Unsuspecting Afternoon
by whiterosenova
Summary: They're all the best of friends, but when Edward and Alice go on a family vacation, can Bella and Jasper guarantee things will be the same when their significant others return? FULL SUMMARY INSIDE. All human, rated M for language and adult situations!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all of my wonderful readers! I am so excited to post the first chapter of this story. Needless to say that it has been stewing in my mind for a few months, and I wanted so badly to put it on paper (figuratively speaking of course). This story is not for people who are 100 percent team Edward. Don't get me wrong, I love Edward, go team Edward... and this story will have plenty of Edward. But... yes there's a but... I want to play with Jasper a little...**

**Official Author's Note: This story will contain adult language as well as adult situations. - LEMONS- be forwarned! K thx**

**Full Summary: ****The "Four Musketeers" are inseparable; ask any of their other friends. But when Edward and Alice go on a family vacation for three weeks and Alice pressures Bella and Jasper to keep each other company while they're away, Bella feels things start to change- no matter how much she tries to shy away from it all. Bella begins a journey of discovery as she tries to decipher her feelings towards her best friend that began once unsuspecting afternoon…**

**D/C: I do not own Twilight, nor do I own any of the characters portrayed in the book and/or movie. I do, however, own a brand new pair of fuzzy socks. They're pink and purple, and with this freezing freaking weather they feel like fucking HEAVEN... *sigh* ~Ashley**

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Bella's Point of View

My eyes were glued to the far wall, the second hand on the clock ticking so slowly that I was sure the battery was dying. There was a man standing in front of the auditorium, droning on and on about the necessity of keeping up with our education during the next few months. Apparently, if we didn't complete some type of homework during summer break, our brains would turn to mush and therefore we would all be socially and educationally inept. I knew the mystery man would be one of my teachers next year, but even if I learned his name right this moment, I would forget it within the next hour, and it would surely be a lost cause by the time we began classes again.

"Uugghhh…" The soft moan came from my right and I peeked over to see my best friend, Alice, slide further down in the hard brown plastic chair.

"We're almost done," I whispered to her. The mandatory end-of-the-year assembly was torturous. And completely unnecessary. A chosen speaker from each class would stand up and tell their upcoming students how excited the staff was to teach them next year. We would get a reading list to finish by the end of the summer break, and they would even encourage us to write essays and complete projects, all for extra credit. Now, I'm a book worm, if I do say so myself, and I thrive in the school environment. But this was my last summer as a free person. My last summer to do whatever the hell I wanted to do. My last summer to spend with my best friends before we had to worry about going off to college.

Forks High School and its staff could suck my invisible cock if they thought they would be the center of my universe this summer.

"Bella, oh my God, I'm going to turn into a puddle of boredom over here." Alice's voice was tiny and pathetic sounding, and I had to stifle a laugh. My eyes automatically gravitated down about ten rows towards the front of the mass of students. There, sitting in the third row about twenty feet to my left, were our boyfriends. Alice's eyes followed mine and she grinned at Jasper, winking seductively. Jasper flushed and elbowed the person next to him, nodding in our direction. Jasper's return wink went unappreciated by me, because the person sitting next to him turned and grinned at me.

Edward Cullen. Yeah, the clock no longer grasped my attention as I gazed lovingly at my boyfriend.

"Uugghhh…" I mirrored Alice's earlier moan. I wanted the assembly to end. End right now.

"Yep." Alice barely finished her one word response before she was blowing Jasper a kiss from across the room. He made a show of reaching up and catching the imaginary kiss in the air and tucking it in his pocket. Pretending to swoon, he fell back in his chair with his hands over his heart. Edward and I both rolled our eyes, but laughed regardless along with several other students who caught a glimpse of the show.

"Mr. Whitlock." Jasper's name being spoken into the microphone brought the four of us out of our bubbles and our heads snapped towards the stage. Mr. Mysterious-teacher-guy was staring down at Jasper with scowl.

"Sorry." I could hear Jasper's apology from my seat and I slid further down into my seat than I thought possible.

"Yes, you and I are going to have a great relationship next year, Mr. Whitlock." Edward shook with laughter at his position next to his friend, while Alice gazed on apologetically. It wasn't necessarily her fault that he was in 'trouble', but she sure as hell felt bad.

"Ah, priceless," I muttered. Suddenly a loud bell rang throughout the air, cutting off any further conversation between Jasper and the teacher. The bell was drowned out by loud screams and cheering.

"Fuck yeah!" Alice screamed. I laughed and jumped up with her. We weren't the only ones who were making a scene- the entire student body of the dismal town of Forks was standing on their feet, cheering as loud as possible at the fact that yet another school year had ended.

"Let's go!" I grabbed Alice and pulled her behind me as I pushed past equally as eager students.

"Bella!" I turned when I reached the isle and saw Jessica Stanley waving frantically to me. I let out a shriek and pulled Alice towards her. Lunging at each other, we created a three person hug, blocking half the escape route for the rest of the students. A few people threw us dirty looks, but an evil glare from yours truly can go a long way.

"I can't believe we're officially Seniors!" Jessica mumbled into our hug. I laughed and moved to pull back, but was immediately accosted by arms surrounding me and pushing us all back together. I grunted and recognized Jasper and Edward's laughter above the noise. Looking up, I saw that Jasper was behind Alice, pushing his way into the hug as well.

"Air!" Jessica breathed out. The guys let us up, and I turned to look into Edward's beautiful green eyes.

"Howdy there, Cullen," I winked. He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine quickly. We were, after all, on school property. No PDA, blah, blah.

"I can't believe we're free," Edward whispered to me as he pulled me into a hug. I sighed and leaned into his touch. There was never any doubt in the world- in Edward's arm was my happy place.

"What do you guys say about a movie night at my place?" Jessica asked, her arm looped with Alice's. I glanced at Alice and shrugged. She was nodding enthusiastically, which summed up her feelings.

"Sounds like a plan!" I pulled Edward towards the parking lot, already having emptied my locker before the assembly. I wanted a clean break, free to run and not look back for three months.

"What time works?" I asked Jessica. She thought for a second and shrugged her shoulder.

"Seven?" She hugged Alice and threw me a kiss before waving and darting away. I watched as she launched herself at Tyler and his bunch. I loved Jessica, truly. She was friendly with just about everyone, and I could honestly say that she was my first friend when I moved to this town three years ago.

The summer before high school was scheduled to begin my dad received a nice little e-mail from a 'friend' of his. I don't like the term 'friend' because my dad only spoke to this person when it came to work. Shouldn't that just be a work acquaintance? Well this 'friend' dropped some information to my father about a job opportunity that might interest him. Interest? Yeah, I would say that's an understatement. My dad followed up on this lead without checking with my mother or me first to see if we were _okay_ with it. Next thing we knew, my wonderful father was sitting in front of us in the living room and informing us that he received a job offer from the city of Forks. He was now Charlie Swan, Police Chief.

To say that my mother was furious would be, again, an understatement. She was more livid than I'd ever seen her. More than the time that I put gorilla glue in her conditioner (you know, the leave in kind?) when I was six. More furious when I was twelve and thought that I could drive her station wagon just because I'd seen her do it a million times. Needless to say, the dent in the back and the neighbors' destroyed garbage can did not agree with my hypothesis.

So, because my father 'ran' the household (an illusion my mother instilled in him early in their marriage), we moved from our home in Spring Valley, Nevada. The second I slipped out of my seat in the large moving truck and stood in front of our new home, I was being drenched with rain. I think I've seen a total of ten rain showers in Nevada in the fourteen years I lived there. And here I was, constantly surrounded by the portable shower fairy.

My mother and I didn't speak to Charlie for over a week, baffled as to why he would bring us to this town _so _unlike home that it was like we stepped into the Twilight Zone. But his sad faces and puppy dog eyes got to us, and eventually we caved under the power of Daddy Swan.

I had spent that summer going to the library and wandering around the downtown area (all three blocks of it). That's where I met Jessica Stanley. I had gone into the drug store to get _feminine products_, and ended up knocking over an entire display of candy bars. My face had turned scarlet red as I rushed to pick them all off the yellow linoleum floor. Jessica had rushed over, laughing, and helped me pick them all up. She introduced herself and I found out then that her parents actually owned that drug store. From that day forward, I would stop into the store to say hi to her. She then invited me to a party some kids from the school were holding. I was nervous, because I hadn't met any of my future classmates besides her, but I relented and found myself 'dolled up' as Jessica put it.

Enter Edward and Alice Cullen- the party throwers. It was a 'Welcome to High School' party, and the entire high school population had showed up, not just the freshman class. I stuck to Jessica's side as we walked to the Cullen house, telling her over and over again that she better not ditch me there. But Jessica was a true friend, and didn't even go to the bathroom without dragging me with her. She introduced me to dozens and dozens of people, whose names I would never remember, before bringing me to see Edward and Alice Cullen.

As soon as Jessica pulled me in the line of sight of Alice, I was grabbed hold of and pulled into a tight hug.

"Bella! It's so great to meet you, we've heard so many great things!" She had? From who? I patted the tiny girls back hesitantly and was met with laughter from a tall figure standing behind her. I pulled away from Alice and was met with the most beautiful boy I had ever seen. Edward and Alice were twins, but besides the color of their eyes and the color of their skin, they couldn't look more different. Alice was shorter than me, and at my 5 foot three inches, that was saying something. She was about two inches shorter, but wore the heels to make up for it. Her eyes matched Edward's- wide and green and sparkling with happiness. Her hair was a dark brown color, pulled up into a short pony tail high on her head. Multi-colored hair clips decorated her head, apparently holding down any stray hairs. Edward, however, was much taller than me- about five foot eight inches- with a light brown colored hair. It looked like a caramel color with touches of a bronze-red, sticking up in every way imaginable. I wanted to laugh and tell him to buy a brush, but the rare shy moment overtook me and I only stood there with a smile on my face.

And then we lived happily ever after… Ha! No, not really. Don't get me wrong, I had a freaking blast that night. Jessica and I hung out with Edward and Alice while other students mingled their way past us. By midnight, I was sitting happily with Jessica to my left and Alice to my right while Edward kept close (but not too close of course- he had to appear manly to all the other guys).

My first day at Forks High School was fabulous. I wasn't stared at like I thought I would be. No, everyone greeted me like they'd known me forever. And to make things better, I had either Alice or Jessica or Edward in each of my classes.

The summer after freshman year, I was no longer the new girl. A family moved to the area from California, which brought three new kids- although no one knew their ages exactly. Rumors were flying, and I had wondered if that's what happened when _I_ moved there.

On the first day of sophomore year, I made my way to the front office to talk to someone about my schedule (I had somehow been put in boys soccer… did I look like a boy?) when I ran into Jasper. Literally. He was like a damned _wall_, and I went tumbling to the ground like a slinky. My schedule went flying into a puddle, and my ankle twisted into a horrible position that caused me to cry out in pain.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I closed my eyes to bite back the sarcastic response I had in mind for my attacker and took a deep breath before I opened them. And I was looking into the eyes of the third most gorgeous person I had ever seen (First- Johnny Depp, Second- Edward Cullen, Third… you get the picture). The boy looked at me with bright blue eyes, and I took in his tanned skin and messy blonde hair.

"No, I'm not _okay_," I managed to say calmly. The boy had wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me to my feet. The second I put any weight on my right foot, I screamed out in pain, ready to fall back to the ground. But the boy had held tight, grabbed my bag off of my back, and proceeded to practically carry me into the office. The women behind the desk stared blankly for a second at the sight of the two of us, but snapped into attention when I snapped my fingers at them.

"Hello? Help?" I ended up sitting on the nurses' cot for a bit while the new kid spoke to the nurse and to the woman behind the counter. Of course I eavesdropped, and found out that his name was Jasper Whitlock, and today was his first day.

"Oh! Welcome Mr. Whitlock," the woman behind the counter (Mrs. Irwin? I wasn't sure) said. "Isabella here was in your same shoes just last year, I'm sure she can show you around." I had stared in shock at the fact that I had just been volunteered to escort him. How the hell was I supposed to do that when I was officially labeled a cripple? Jasper only shook his head and laughed, asking for his schedule. I piped up and asked for a copy of mine as well, due to the fact that mine was destroyed outside in the rain. When it was printed out, I remembered my original reason for coming there in the first place. There, in period three, was Boys Soccer.

"Um, yeah, that reminds me," I had said with a grimace. "I need my schedule fixed." Mrs. Irwin had looked at the computer with a confused look on her face.

"What seems to be the problem, Miss Swan?" I looked at her for a moment, reminding myself that not all people were 'quick'.

"Well, period three," I pointed out. Mrs. Irwin continued to stare stupidly at the computer screen while Jasper looked back and forth between the two of us. A solid minute passed before I arched an eyebrow and cocked my head to the side. I gave her one of those looks that you want to give people who wear underwear on their head as a stunt. I lifted myself off of the cot and hobbled my way over to the counter, slamming my schedule down before pointing at the class in question.

"This one, ma'am. This one right here, the one that says _Boys Soccer._" Mrs. Irwin glanced at me again, and I took an uneasy step back.

"Look at me," I said carefully. Mrs. Irwin and Jasper both looked at me. I motioned to my chest and to my face as I gave her a cheesy grin. Then I pointed to my crotch area and shrugged. "Sorry, no penis, and I still have boobs. I think the label 'boy' was lost on me." Jasper had burst out laughing while Mrs. Irwin blushed furiously. She quickly changed my class to a different elective and shooed us out of the office. Jasper held my bag while he walked next to me slowly.

"Again, I'm sorry." I waved him off and smiled.

"It's okay, really. My name is Bella." He smiled and stuck his hand out, which I took carefully (you had to admit, I had every right to be cautious around the guy; last time he touched me, I went tumbling to the ground).

"Jasper. It's a pleasure. Now, let me see your schedule." I handed him the paper and he smiled.

"We have first hour together, which we are both officially late for, so let's enjoy the tardiness together, shall we?" I laughed at him and accepted his help to get to the classroom together. When he opened the door to our English class, all heads turned in our direction, including Alice and Edward's.

"Bella!" Alice had leapt out of her chair when she saw that I was hobbling into the class. Our teacher yelled for Alice to sit down, but she, along with Edward, rushed to me and literally took me out of Jasper's arms.

"I'm fine, just a little twist." But Edward didn't listen as he rushed me to an empty seat next to him. When I was sitting properly, I looked up to find Jasper. Yep, there he was, standing right where I had left him. And so was Alice. They were staring at each other, mouths agape. The teacher eventually had to step between them to get their attention, and Alice rushed back to her seat while Jasper grinned stupidly from his spot next to the teacher. Once his slip was handed in, he made his way to the seat to my left.

This was the beginning of our beautiful friendship.

I dealt with my crush on Edward at the same time Alice dealt with her crush on Jasper. Neither one of us wanted to make the move and ask their crush out, so instead we gathered in one of our rooms and gossiped and daydreamed.

Until Alice dropped the 'L' word.

"I think I love him," she whispered to me about five months after we became friends with him. I had looked at her in shock.

"Ali- really?" I asked carefully. "You haven't known him long, and you haven't even gone on a date or anything…" But Alice rushed towards me on her bed and got in my face, her eyes wide with some sort of emotion that I didn't know.

"Bella, haven't you ever just _known?_ Have you ever looked at someone and the entire world just falls away? Your heart starts pounding so fast that it echoes in your ears? You wonder if you'll even be able to stand on your own two feet long enough?" I swallowed hard and nodded. I did know what she meant. Edward.

"Okay," I whispered, "I get it. I'll make you a deal." Alice leaned back from me and arched her eyebrow. I couldn't believe I was doing this.

"Deal?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'll help you get Jasper… if you help me get Edward." The _screaming _that came out of that girl made me deaf. I should have gone to the doctors and gotten a flipping hearing aid.

And our plans began. I dropped little hints to Jasper about Alice, and asked him little questions to see if he liked her the same way. I also set up a group get-together so we could all go to Port Angeles to see a movie. Edward and Alice already had their drivers' license and Edward volunteered to drive us all there. The night we headed up there, I had Edward pull up to the front of the theatre and had Jasper and Alice get out while I went with Edward to 'find a parking spot'. When Edward pulled away to park, I turned to him with a huge grin and told him to drive. Of course he was confused, but did as I told him to. We parked around the block, and I took out my cell phone, shooting a text to both Jasper and Alice: _'Thought the two of you would enjoy an evening together. Seems you both have things to admit! See you in two hours ;)'_

I sat with Edward in the car, munching on a bag of chips that was mysteriously tucked in the back seat of his dad's car. Edward and I talked about school, about how mad Jasper and Alice were going to be at us and even about the future (whatever future could be in store for a fifteen year old). About ten minutes before we were going to head back for Jasper and Alice, Edward surprised me by leaning forward and kissing me on the cheek. I looked at him in shock, not understanding why he did that. Was he amusing me? Did he know about my crush? Did Alice say something?

"I like you, Bella," he said to me. I continued to stare at him with my eyes open wide as he leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. The kiss only lasted a moment, but it was enough to fuel the energy within me. When we pulled to the front of the theatre, I was ecstatic to see that Alice and Jasper were holding hands- the exact posture as me and Edward. Alice climbed in and tried to glare at me, but saw my hand entwined with her brothers.

"Oh my God! You two…? Jazz! Look! Bella and Edward are together! All of starting dating on the same day! What are the odds!" The entire trip back to Forks was filled with three people smiling and one person rambling. Jasper leaned forward at one point and whispered in my ear,

"Thanks, B."

And _that_… was the beginning of our wonderful friendship. The four of us had been inseparable ever since. The four Musketeers, the four Amigos, the four Pain-in-the-Asses. Depended on who you spoke to.

"Bella, hellooo!" I snapped back to the present and grinned when I saw Edward about an inch away from my face. His eyes were staring into mine, laughter covering every line.

"Sorry babe," I winked, leaning up to kiss his cheek. He rolled his eyes and winked back.

"I'm not a pig, don't call me _babe_." Honestly? I knew that. I did it on purpose.

"You got it, _babe_," I retorted. Jumping out of his way, I lunged behind Alice, knowing Edward was in for the kill. He didn't disappoint, and within two seconds (no thanks to my best friend who just stood there and laughed) Edward had his arms wrapped around me in a tickling hug.

"You're in trouble," he muttered. I shrugged him off and made my way to Edward's car. His dad bought it for him as a sixteenth birthday present- an Audi S5, shiny black and brand new. For the first two months he had it, he paid more attention to it than me. I was good natured about it, understanding the shock factor, but after a certain point, I wouldn't kiss him until he left the thing alone for three days. Meaning no washing, no waxing, no detailing, no washing the rims, nothing. Only sitting behind the wheel and driving from point A to point B. Jasper thought it was freaking _hilarious_, and taunted him every chance he got. Which in turn started a war between the two of them- a war of taunting and teasing and practical jokes. It's been a year, and every couple of weeks a new practical joke would find its way to the surface.

"Let's go back to our house," Alice piped up. She didn't even need to say it- it's like we all flocked back there anyway.

I climbed into the passenger seat as Alice and Jasper climbed into his truck- his pride and joy, his blue F-250. Jasper was such an odd person.

Edward drove his way out of the parking lot and sped along the back roads to his house, finding the hidden driveway as easily as if there were a flashing light marking the spot. I'd always found their house magical. It was set a bit away from the road, but not too far to where you wouldn't be able to see it through the brush. Maple and oak trees lined the driveway, hanging over the rock road with elegance. Their house was three stories high and made to look like a stone and log cabin. The bottom level had walls of stone, extending into the sky with architectural genius. Their mother, Esme, thrived in the designing business and apparently spent a good year designing her dream home. Once it was built and they moved in, she spent another year decorating it. To think, I grinned, they used to live in a normal house just like me.

Edward parked his car in its spot in the open garage, right next to Alice's Mini Cooper convertible. Sometimes I wondered if Jasper had ever even been in her car before. Over the past year or so, both Edward and Jasper grew to over a whopping six foot, Edward beating Jasper by one inch at six foot two inches. Alice didn't grow at all, while I stopped at five foot four (although, she did recently cut her hair to a short spiky look). Yeah, we were vertically challenged. Let's just say, there was a reason why Alice never offered Jasper a ride to school in her little red _thing_. I glanced back up at Edward and smiled. His hair had darkened over the past couple of years, and along with his height, his coloring had also changed. The reddish bronze color had overtaken the caramel, and now it was dark enough to pass for brown. Jasper had also changed other than his height; his hair was grown out now, almost to his shoulders. When it got longer, it had started to curl. Me? Yeah, my hair was the same. No, that's a lie- I had grown it out to past my shoulders now (enter ecstatic grin).

Jasper pulled his beast behind Edward and fell out of the drivers' seat. Like magnets, his and Alice's hands found their way to each other while we all walked into the house. Sometimes I was jealous of their relationship. Don't get me wrong- Edward and I were tighter than the spandex on Jessica's mother's ass, but we'd gotten so comfortable around each other that little things like holding hands and little kisses didn't seem completely necessary all the time. Oh well, I shrugged, we loved each other. Not everyone needed the constant touchy feeling environment.

Edward opened the front door, ushering us all in as a few rain drops began to fall. And here I thought the day would not be tainted by nasty weather. Edward and Alice made their way into the living room while Jasper and I kicked off our shoes. Everyone always looked at us funny, but hey- it wasn't my house and if I got something on their pretty beige carpet because I tracked something in, I'd feel horrible. It's one thing if it was my own house, but we aren't all this lucky.

I turned the corner while looking down at my cell phone (I was texting my mother to tell her where I was), Jasper following close behind, and ran smack into Alice's back.

"What the f-" I stopped my sentence when I saw that both Alice and Edward were staring into the living room with identical looks of surprise on their faces. I peeked around Edward's shoulder, feeling Jasper right behind me doing the same, and bust into laughter. There, sitting on the couch, were Carlisle and Esme Cullen. They were dressed from head to toe in tropical get-ups, Hawaiian shirt for Carlisle and coconut bra for Esme, with matching grins on their faces. Spread out in front of them was a table full of brochures and pamphlets with pictures of smiling people on the front- creepy smiles that looked eerily like the ones the Cullen parents were giving their children.

"Mom? Dad?" Edward was the first to speak, and it encouraged Alice to step forward.

"What's going on?" Alice asked. Esme and Carlisle looked at one another and they both nodded. Turning to us, they took a deep breath.

"_We're going to Jamaica!"_ My mouth dropped open, effectively cutting off my laughter. Suddenly I felt movement from behind me, and hands cupped over my ears, blocking any noise from reaching me. I wanted to turn around to look at Jasper in question, but I understood exactly why he did this when Alice proceeded to open her mouth and let out the loudest scream I have ever heard in my entire life. Even Carlisle and Esme's smiles faltered a little when their hands flew up to their own ears. When the high pitched noise finished, Jasper's hands dropped and I turned to smile at him. He winked and we both looked on as Edward and Alice ran forward in surprise. Alice immediately went for the brochures on the table, looking through them at an amazingly fast speed.

"What do you mean? When are we going?" Edward was shocked, and his lack of verbal skills showed that. I stood back, grinning at them while their parents explained that they would be leaving the day after tomorrow for three whole weeks. First a week in Jamaica, then a trip through the Bahamas, and then they would spend six days in Fiji. My mouth dropped open in jealousy, and I suddenly wished that I was a Cullen. Damn lucky freaking-

"Oh my God, Bella! Can you believe this!" Alice cut off my mental rant and crashed into me, hugging me close. I was happy for them, really. As I said though, just jealous.

"It's great guys! You _suck_, but it's great!" Edward laughed at me and pushed his twin aside, pulling me into his own hug.

"I wish you could come with me," he whispered into my ear. I nodded, tears welling in my eyes. Maybe it wasn't jealousy. I think I was just going to miss them… this was the longest we'd all been away from each other since we'd met.

"Don't you worry. Remember, I start on Saturday at Rose's." I had applied all over town for a job, needed anything really so that I could have an income of some sort. The others didn't really have to worry about that because of Carlisle being a surgeon and Jasper's dad being a lawyer in the city. Don't get me wrong, my family lived comfortably, but with my dad being a cop and my mom being a substitute teacher, I still got the stink eye whenever I asked Charlie for twenty bucks to go to the damn mall. Hell, the only reason why I had a car was because one of my mom's friends at the elementary school deemed the old Nissan Altima un-drivable. Something about the transmission slipping, etc etc. Well, my dad knew me better than anyone when it came to cars, and told my mother to 'take the car off of her hands'. All in all, I took one look at it, spent maybe $150, and I had a working car. Leaks aren't that hard to fix lady, I felt like saying to her.

So when I applied to Rose's garage as just a simple desk person, the owners took one look at me and hesitated. Hypocritical much? Hell Rosalie and Emmett McCarthy thrived on the fact that Rosalie was the bread and butter in that duo. She was the one under the cars repairing things every day. Emmett did his part as well, but he had nothing on her. The second they hesitated, I rolled my eyes and started to walk out the door. But Rosalie stopped me and gave me a 'test'. Let's just say that after an oil change, a simple belt fix, and a tire rotation, I had a job. I wouldn't be under any cars as far as I knew, but I was good enough to answer phones and know what the people were talking about. During the summer I would work about thirty to forty hours a week, and then when school kicked back up, they agreed to let me do my hours as well as do my homework as long as I was sitting my ass at the counter.

It was a dream come true.

The four of us chilled out at the Cullen house… well that's a lie. Edward and Jasper sat their happy butts in front of the television while Carlisle answered the hospitals page. And me, Alice and Esme made our way upstairs to pack. Well, I was helping Alice pack while she jumped back and forth between hers and her mother's room asking questions. I couldn't believe it- three weeks in basically a tropical stupor. I missed the heat of the Nevada desert, and sometimes wished that I could just hop on a plane and head on down. At least for one day. Or two.

"Bella!" I snapped out of my funk and looked at Alice, who was standing in front of me with her hands on her hips. Her left hand was clenched around a wire hanger, which seemed to be shaking. Was her hand shaking? Was the room shaking? No, I looked closer, Alice was. It took me a second to realize that she had asked me a question.

"Sorry," I flinched under the ferocity of her stare. "What's up Ali?" Please don't hit me with that hanger, please don't hit me with that hanger…

"I _said_, what are you and Jasper going to do while we're gone?" I froze. Huh? Oh shit. Don't get me wrong, Jasper was one of my very best friends. If he wasn't in my life, my life would be very different, and I wouldn't be happy at all about that. But I don't think we'd ever actually hung out, just the two of us. I thought for a second, and realized I was right. Besides that very first day we had met, we'd never spent any time together. Alice or Edward, most of the time both of them, were our buffer.

"Fuck," I muttered. Alice's jaw dropped, as it always did when I cursed. What can I say? When the authoritative figure in your life (i.e. Police Chief Swan) cursed like a sailor, it rubs off.

"Sorry, Alice. Um, I don't know. I don't think Jasper and I have ever spent quality time together." Alice scoffed and waved her hand at me.

"Yes you have, silly." She continued to prod through her many bathing suits that lay on her red comforter while I stared at her, shaking my head. After a minute of me doing this, she finally looked up with panic filled eyes.

"Okay!" she shrieked. "I know you've never actually spent any time together, but I'm _begging_ you not to leave him all by himself for the entire three weeks. If you leave him alone with his sisters, he'll go absolutely insane!" I thought of Jasper's twin sisters that had just finished off fifth grade. They thought they were hot shit because they were entering middle school, and had made it their lives ambition to drive Jasper up the damn wall. The panicked look Alice continued to give me actually made me feel bad.

"Alice, I would never ignore him for three freaking weeks!" She had to know me better than that! "He's one of my best friends. But I'll be honest, I don't know what we'll do." Alice seemed to calm slightly and continued to pick out bathing suits.

"Just do what you normally do. Hang out, go to the movies, maybe go to First Beach, shopping for my birthday present… that kind of thing." Yeah, subtle.

"Oh! That's right!" I pretended to be stupid. "You and Edward turn eighteen sometime… when was it? Next month?" Alice's eyes narrowed in on me and I had to use every ounce of will power not to bend under her wrath.

"June twentieth," she hissed. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. Whoo! Thank God you reminded me!" I made a swiping motion over my forehead and leaned back on her bed to pick through a pile of bandanas. I allowed five seconds to go by before I cracked up laughing. Alice stomped her foot once and threw her hands out to her sides. Geez. Sometimes I wondered if she was stuck in the whole pre-teen phase of life.

"Like I'd forget your birthday, Ali." I gave her a sincere look and smiled. "Besides, it's mandatory that I remember my boyfriend's, and since you guys are twins it just goes with the territory." Alice didn't even allow the joke to settle in before she launched herself at me, tackling me off the bed and onto the floor. A loud _thud_ sounded through the room followed by my moan. Footsteps sounded down the hall, several people running up the stairs. Alice straddled me, smacking me with a fake fierceness in her eyes, as Jasper and Edward rushed into the room. I glanced over to them and gave them the most pitiful expression that I could.

"She _attacked _me!" I cried. The two guys began laughing, and Jasper walked over to lift Alice off of me. Edward followed close behind and pulled me into his arms.

"Are you okay, love?" His voice was silky smooth in my ear and I shivered. I nodded, running my fingers along his back. Why oh why did he have to go on vacation.

"I'm going to miss you," I whispered to him. He held me closer if at all possible, and I sighed. Three weeks wasn't that bad, right? Three weeks of just me and Jasper, and then Edward and my bestest friend would be back and everything would be fine. Right? Right.

* * *

**WELL? WELL? Okay, please let me know what you think, because this is my first story where I'm concentrating a little more on Jasper. Usually it's all go Bella, go Edward (which, again, don't get me wrong is absolutely-fucking-fantastic. Be open minded!).**

**Also, there's a new concept- we LIKE Jessica in this story lol. She's gonna be one of the good guys, so roll with it. And Rose and Emmett are not high school students like everyone else. They're all grown and adult-like (well, Rosalie is, Emmett is still Emmett). AND... no Jacob. Yeah... some may take this horrible. So sorry.**

**Review! Love, Ashley**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! I am very glad to see the reaction to this story. I know the first chapter was kind of slow, but necessary I think so I could introduce how _I_ see the charachters. Well, here is the second chapter, which structures a lot more of how everyone is. **

**D/C: I do not own Twilight, nor do I own any of the characters portrayed in the book and/or movie. I am, however, the lucky recipient of a rebuilt laptop. My husband made it his project I suppose, so now it's all fast and shit. Boo ya!**

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* * *

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Bella's POV

_Eight pairs of pants…_

_Fifteen shirts…_

_Four pairs of shorts…_

_Three throw covers…_

_Ten pairs of flip flops…_

_Two pairs of sneakers…_

"Alice," I mumbled. "I think you packed too much." She turned on me _so _fast I literally jumped back with fright. Alice's eyes were wild as she glanced over her suitcases. Yes, that was plural. Her entire bed and surrounding floor was covered in open bags, showing a plethora of clothing and accessories. Each bag carried a different object, and I had lost count at the shoes.

"It's not too much!" She said angrily. "Why does everyone keep saying that? My dad already made me cut back! Unbelievable. Next thing you know they won't let me _shop_ because I have no room to bring anything back. Oh my God, they wouldn't do that…" As Alice rambled to herself, I slowly backed out of the room, my hands up in surrender. Once I crossed over the threshold, I turned to run, to escape from the madness—and ran right into a wall. I flew back and landed on the floor, my feet up in the air.

"You and I have _got _to stop meeting like this," I mumbled to Jasper. He laughed loudly and reached down to help me off of the floor. I rubbed my ass cheek with a sour look on my face, trying hard not to laugh.

"Suck it up, Swan," Jasper mocked. He glanced in Alice's room, and I saw him tense up. Oh, this was _grand_. I walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. Alice was trying to pack more crap into her suitcases, with an absolutely crazed look on her face. Her eyes were wide and unblinking.

"Aww…" I whispered into Jasper's ear. "Suck it up, Whitlock." And then I pushed him into Alice's room. He stumbled over his own feet, creating enough noise to draw Alice's attention.

"Jazz!" Jasper looked over his shoulder and glared at me, his blue eyes narrowed in a look of hatred. Alice's hands closed over his arms and pulled him further into her trap. I turned and skipped away, laughing my entire way to Edward's room. The door was closed, so I knocked once before peeking in. Edward was lying on his bed, a notebook sitting in front of him. I recognized the notebook as his journal and smiled. He was honestly the only guy I had ever met who wrote in a journal on a regular basis.

"Bella," he breathed. His smile lit up the entire room, and he closed his book before shoving it onto the floor. Practically flying to his feet, he reached me in a matter of a second and pulled me into a hug.

"You okay?" I asked quietly. He nodded into the crook of my neck and I could feel his lips on my skin. I closed my eyes and moaned, relaxing into his touch.

"I'm gonna miss you," Edward whispered for the millionth time in the past twenty four hours. I pulled back and set my hand on his cheek.

"And I'm going to miss you. But we're going to talk every day and you're going to write everything down so that when you get home you can describe every detail in such preciseness that I'm going to think I'm there." Edward's eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into my touch and he sighed.

"I love you, Bella." The words still made my heart pound in my chest.

"I love you more," I responded. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, allowing his tongue entrance on his first try. Girl can't be too easy all the time, can she?

I pulled away before I ended up under Edward on his bed, and took a deep breath. Giving him the evil eye, I side stepped his hands as I looked around his room. There was a single suitcase sitting by the door, and a carryon bag right next to it.

"Do you need help packing?" I asked as I looked around. Edward laughed and pulled me into another hug.

"Silly Bella, I'm already done." My eyes grew wide and I let out a short laugh.

"Don't let Alice hear you say that. Did you see her room?" Edward nodded and pretended to hide behind me as he began to hum.

"So," He said as he rocked us back and forth to the song that seemed to only make sense to him, "what are you going to do for the next three weeks?" I smiled when Edward pulled me down into a dip., my hair almost touching the floor. He pulled me up quickly, a muffled shriek coming from me before I could hold it in.

""Well," I sighed, "Alice has officially pimped me out to Jasper. I am to be his confidant, the person he can come to when he misses his pixie ever so much." Edward chuckled and held me even closer.

"You and Jasper will have fun," he promised.

"Yeah." Would we? After all, we didn't have our buffers with us.

"What's wrong?" Edward had caught on to my mood shift immediately. Oh well, might as well let the little voice in my mind blab free.

"Jasper and I have never hung out without you or Alice." Edward stepped back and shot me a disbelieving look.

"Don't be silly, Bella. Of course you have." I pulled completely out of his hold and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Really? When?" Edward rolled his eyes uncharacteristically and sat down on his bed.

"Last month when you guys had gone into Port Angeles." I was shaking my head before he finished his sentence.

"Nope. Alice was with us." He raised an eyebrow and thought for a second.

"Okay, what about the time he had to help out his mom at the elementary school? You know, for that Christmas pageant thing? You and Jasper were alone." I sighed and shook my head again.

"Nope. I was supposed to help but Charlie had pneumonia; I had to take care of him." Edward just stared at me.

"Well, um… what about-" I cut him off with a swat over that mop of hair.

"Admit it," I said. "Jasper and I have never spent quality time together unless you count that very first day when he brutally attacked me and made me a cripple." Edward laughed at my fake sniffling and grabbed me around the waist, flipping me around so I was lying on the bed.

"Fine," he pouted. "So what are your plans?" I shrugged, fingering the top button of his shirt.

"I don't know. But I'll be working a lot. Jasper can probably visit me there. Maybe we'll do a movie, go shopping in the city for Alice's birthday."

"Just Alice, huh?" Edward smirked. I winked at him and grinned.

"Yep, just Alice." And then I had a _brilliant_ idea. My eyes widened at the image that flooded my mind- the image of balloons and a banner and a lot of people surrounding a cake. Yeah… yeah, I'd have plenty to do while the Cullen's were gone.

Edward leaned down and ran his nose along my collarbone, sending chills through me. He nudged my knees open and settled between my legs, pressing his body against mine. I searched blindly for only a second before Edward's lips found mine, and I let my tongue glide along his bottom lips, begging for entrance. I felt the familiar tug that happened whenever we got this far, but I knew that Edward wouldn't go too far. He never did, which is why we were both suffering from the Big V.

Just then, Edward's bedroom door flew open, hitting the wall on the other side. I jumped into a sitting position and tensed at the sight of Jasper standing in the doorway.

"Stay completely still," I whispered to Edward out of the corner of my mouth. "If we don't move, he can't see us." Edward shook with silent laughter, but I eyed the motionless Jasper. His hair was mussed and his Rolling Stones T-shirt looked stretched on one side as if _someone_ had tugged on it incessantly. I jumped a little when he calmly made his way into the room and stopped two feet in front of me. His eyes stared down at me, completely emotionless. I swallowed deeply, my throat suddenly feeling dry.

"Bella," Jasper whispered, "may I please borrow your cell phone?" Huh? I glanced at Edward, who just shrugged his shoulders. I hesitantly reached into my pocket for my phone, trying hard to find an underlying threat in his question. My hand shaking, I handed the phone over to him. Where was his? Who was he calling? But Jasper only glanced at it and then set it on the nightstand to his right. I opened my mouth in question, but was cut off right away as Jasper lunged forward and _lifted _me off of the bed and _threw_ me over his shoulder.

"_Ahh!_" I screamed into Jasper's upside down ass. "Jasper! Let me down!" Jasper then proceeded to turn around and walk out of Edward's room. I looked up as far as I could and watched as my traitorous boyfriend laughed hysterically. All of the blood began rushing to my head as Jasper began his slow decent down the stairs, hitting the second floor, and then walking down the stairs to the first. I wiggled as much as I could and screamed for help, but as the Cullen's came out of the woodwork, one by one, they just watched. Edward was still laughing, Alice was just confused, and Carlisle and Esme held onto each other with 'parent' looks on their faces, which only barely covered the laughter breaking through.

"Oh my God, Jasper, I'm going to throw up! Put me DOWN!" But Jasper ignored me and walked through the living room and then through the kitchen. Jasper patted my backside as he walked out the back door and onto the patio.

"What are you doing?" I asked worriedly. I tried to swivel my upper body to find out where he was taking me- and that's when I saw it. The pool.

"No! Jasper, please don't. Oh my God." I could hear the hysteria bubble up in my words and I could only stare at the spectators as Jasper walked to the deep end of the pool.

"Bella, dear Bella," Jasper sighed. "You just threw me to the sharks. Abandoned me in my time of need."

"Okay, I'm sorry," I spoke into Jasper's back side. For a fleeting moment I wondered if pulling on his underwear would be the smartest move on my part. But with the pool water looming so close, I deducted that it wouldn't be.

"No," Jasper continued, "there are no times for apologies. But I do have to say that this is going to mark the beginning of a very interesting three weeks." What? _What?_

"No, no, Jasper, please!" And with an amount of energy that surprised the hell out of me, Jasper lifted me back over his shoulder and tossed me through the air and into the pool, clothes and all.

The water was a surprisingly biting cold, cutting into my skin and gluing my clothes to my body. I hit the bottom of the pool and pushed my way up to the surface. The second I broke the surface I breathed in deeply, filling my lungs with much needed air. I treaded water for a second, wiping water from my face, and I was met with loud laughter coming from the patio. I glanced over and saw the entire Cullen family holding onto one another while tears rolled down their faces. I then looked over at Jasper and glared. He just _stood_ there, stoic as he stared down at me.

"I can't _believe _you just did that!" I screamed at him. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, covering the large mouth and tongue that was printed on his shirt.

"Be happy that I didn't throw you in with your cell phone," he said in a tone that made me think I should actually thank him. I gaped at him, so surprised that he had actually gone through with throwing me in.

"This is war," I mumbled. Jasper leaned down and looked me dead in the eye, his lips breaking out into a grin. His eyes sparkled, catching the reflection of the pool.

"Bring it," he whispered. I glanced quickly towards Jasper's pockets and went with my wild hunch that his pockets were, too, empty. I jumped up as high as I could in the water and grabbed hold of the front of Jasper's shirt. His eyes popped open as I pulled him in the water with me. When I heard the splash, I burst out laughing, swimming to the edge of the pool as fast as I could. When Jasper resurfaced he turned to me in shock.

"Isabella!" he yelled. I was practically climbing the wall by the time he reached me, and I was immediately pulled back. We spent the next couple of minutes battling with each other, pushing one another in the water and trying to scale the wall out of the pool. But I was surprised when I watched four figures jump over us and into the water. All four Cullen's resurfaced and joined in on the fun. Edward rescued me and pulled me against his half clothed figure (he at least had the chance to take his shirt off before jumping in).

I looked around at the group of people I spent so much time with, and I felt a pang in my chest. The next three weeks weren't going to be the same, and I suddenly wished that they would pass by quickly.

* * *

I lay in my bed Saturday morning, feeling lethargic. My eyes were trained on the lumps in my popcorn ceiling as I tried to define some kind of shape within them. At one point I was certain that I had spelled out Edward's name, and then I could see his eyes. I ended up closing my eyes and letting out a sigh. I just missed Edward.

The Cullen's had left that morning, and unfortunately Charlie wouldn't let me travel to Seattle to see them off at the airport. So there was a wonderful, tear-filled scene at the Cullen house, which left Jasper and I standing in the driveway, waving at their car as it backed out of the driveway. Once the black SUV was gone, I let the tears fall. Jasper seemed to understand as he stood there, holding me while I cried. I felt bad for staining his shirt with my tears, but he never said anything to suggest being upset about it. After all, he was upset over Alice leaving, he was just too 'manly' to let it show.

So here I lay, staring at my ceiling as I waited for one o'clock to hit so I could go to work. I wondered briefly if Rose and Emmett would think I was overly enthusiastic if I showed up early. I glanced at my desk clock and sighed. Two hours early.

My phone rang and I looked over to see Jasper's picture pop up on my screen. I smiled at it, remembering the day I took that picture. Jasper was standing in front of the school on Valentine's Day, with glittery heart antennae on. He also had red sunglasses on, with his signature shit eating grin spread over his face. I could honestly say that Jasper made me smile.

I pressed the accept button and lifted the phone to my ear.

"Domino's pizza, Candy speaking, how may I help you?" I could hear Jasper's laugh on the other end.

"Yes, I need to order three large pies, loaded with all the meat you have."

"Baby, you can't handle my meat." Jasper continued to chuckle, and eventually I broke down with him.

"What do you want, loser?" I asked. "Didn't I just leave your ass?" I could hear Jasper sigh, and I felt a twinge of guilt for bantering with him this way.

"Yeah, but I missed your eloquence so much that I needed to speak to you right away. My life depends on it." I rolled my eyes and sat up, tearing my eyes away from the popcorn lumps on my ceiling.

"So, I came up with an idea," I said as I wandered down the stairs towards the kitchen. I needed to make a lunch of some sort before heading into work.

"Yeah? What's that?" I could hear Jasper searching around for something on his end, and I thought for just a moment how comical it would be if he were searching for food as well.

"We should put together a surprise birthday party for Edward and Alice. We'll have it the weekend after they get back." I pulled some chicken out of the fridge and eyed it warily. I didn't remember when we last had chicken, and I wondered if it was okay to eat. Peeling back the tin foil, I flinched back before I could even put my nose to it. Yeah, it was time to clean the refrigerator out.

"That sounds great!" Jasper said to me with enthusiasm. I smirked and shrugged to myself.

"I guess next time I see you we can start to plan it," I said as I threw the chicken away. Cereal seemed to be my best bet for a meal.

"Sounds good. What are you doing?" I poured a bowl of Cheerios and sighed. This so didn't seem appetizing.

"I am scourging for food. Cereal seems to be the meal of choice." Jasper laughed and I heard a loud slam on his end.

"Cereal is not an appropriate for any meal besides breakfast, Bella." I shrugged to myself and went searching for milk.

"Well, you can tell that you live with females, because if you talk to any self respecting man, cereal is the shit." Jasper chucked and just then the doorbell went off.

"Just a second," I told him. "Someone is interrupting my strenuous cooking skills." I walked to the front door and unlocked it, throwing the door back. At the sight before me, I laughed and looked down at my phone, pressing the 'End Call' button.

"I come bearing gifts," Jasper said, holding up two bags of what smelled like Chinese food.

"By all means," I motioned for Jasper to step in and I all but drooled on him as he walked by. Closing the door with unnecessary roughness, I rushed into the kitchen after him. He was already taking the cartons out of the bags by the time I flung my cereal bowl onto the counter.

"You are my hero," I sang to him while I got out forks and plates. Jasper laughed and settled down in my dad's usual chair. I sat next to him, pulling the nearest carton towards me. _Mmmm_, general tso.

"So, this is weird." I looked up at Jasper in confusion, my fork halfway to my mouth.

"What is?" Jasper brushed his hair out of his face and shrugged one shoulder.

"You need a haircut," I said as I shoved the chicken in my mouth. My eyes closed in happiness.

"Your mom needs a haircut," Jasper countered. I only raised my eyebrow at him. He smiled and motioned between the two of us. "This, you and me. It's weird. We've never hung out before." I almost choked on the food as it made its way down my throat.

"I know!" I all but shouted. "Alice and Edward kept telling me 'no, you're crazy' when I told them that, but I knew I wasn't!" We both laughed and Jasper shoveled more rice into his mouth.

"It's okay though, right?" I asked. I suddenly wanted to make sure that Jasper was okay with spending time with me. If he wanted to, I would stay recluse for the next few weeks.

"Oh, absolutely," Jasper assured me. "Hell, if it wasn't for you, I would never have made friends in this stupid town." I laughed and shook my head.

"Nah, that's not true. I'm sure you would have knocked some other poor person down with your clown feet." Jasper feigned shock at me for all of one second before he grinned.

"So, what brings you to my neck of the woods?" I glanced at Jasper and smirked when I saw that he was busted.

"Do I have to have ulterior motives for visiting one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world?" I took a bite of an egg roll so I didn't have to answer that question. Jasper sighed and turned to me with an almost _begging_ look on his face.

"Okay, just keep in mind that I would never normally ask you this kind of favor, but you also have to remember that I am actually one of your best friends, so you would do anything for me, right?" I swallowed uncertainly and nodded once. I was wondering what Jasper was getting at, because he seemed almost desperate.

"Tomorrow is the twins' birthday, but they're having a sleepover tonight. My parents somehow conned me into supervising their little party tonight because they're going into Seattle for some kind of ballet… or something, I don't remember." I stared at Jasper with a sense of foreboding. I knew what he was going to ask me.

"You didn't actually ask me for anything," I pointed out carefully. He narrowed his eyes at me as if he were thinking 'I can't believe you're making me ask this'.

"Can you please be there tonight to help me? I can't deal with five ten year olds by myself." Ahh shit. I didn't know how to deal with a bunch of ten year old girls. Hell, I didn't know how to deal with them when I _was_ ten!

"Jasper, really?" He gave me the puppy dog eyes, and I could barely think. "I have to work." I threw the last thing out as a life raft for myself. He narrowed his eyes again when he sensed what I was trying to do.

"You get off at seven." I opened and closed my mouth several times before I groaned.

"Remind me to never accept gifts from you," I muttered. "You're always going to have a motive for it all." Jasper looked hopeful.

"Does this mean yes?" I glared for a second and nodded. Jasper's fists went up in the air in victory.

"You so owe me." He shook his head.

"Nah, I gave you lunch. We're even." I gaped at him and flung a forkful of rice. Just then the front door opened and my mother walked in.

"Hey you two! What are you up to?" I smiled at my mother as she set down her bags and made her way into the kitchen.

"Nothing much, ma, just eating food," Jasper said. I laughed at his use of the word 'ma' and gestured to the food in front of us.

"You want anything?" I asked my mother. She shook her head and made her way to the cabinet to get a glass.

"No, thank you though. I just had lunch with some girls from the school. You work today, right Bella?" I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, today's my first day. I work until seven." I glanced at Jasper and glared at him once more. "Then I'm going over Jasper's to help him with the twins' sleepover, is that okay?" My mother shrugged and filled her glass with water.

"That's no problem. Will you be spending the night there?" I looked at Jasper, and we both shrugged at the same time.

"I honestly have no idea," I told her. "But I'll bring a change of clothes just in case. I'll text you and let you know." My mom nodded and walked her way around the table behind Jasper. She stopped and looked down at the floor. Her eyes came up to me, her eyebrows raised. I followed her gaze to the floor and saw the rice that I had flung at Jasper. And at the same time, Jasper and I raised our arms and pointed at one another. My mom only laughed, stepping over the mess and making her way up the stairs.

* * *

In my sadness of Edward and Alice leaving for three weeks, there was a ray of sunshine as I stepped into Rose's Garage. The smell of oil and Gojo invaded my senses, and I was in heaven. I ended up arriving just on time, courtesy of Jasper keeping me busy until I had to leave. The second I walked in the door and the bell chimed at my arrival, Rose and Emmett came out of the woodwork and welcomed me. I was shown my work area- a wooden desk with computer and schedule. There were five isles full of regular maintenance items that people could purchase, like oil, filters, windshield wipers, fluids, etc. When you walked in the front door, the entire right wall was a pane of glass that looked out over the garage. Five lifts held different cars, and Craftsman tools adorned the walls.

I was in heaven.

Within a half an hour, I was answering phones and making appointments. I had hoped that throwing myself into this job would help the time Edward was gone go by fast. And now that I had a taste of it, I knew it would. Mix that with spending time with Jasper and planning a party, and they'd be back before I knew it.

Around five that afternoon, though, the phones stopped ringing and I was stuck staring at a wall of STP treatment bottles. Emmett had left for the day and Rose was under a 1967 Ford Mustang. I should have brought a book.

My cell phone beeped at me, signaling that I had a text message. I grabbed it, hoping with every cell of my being that it was Edward. But when I saw 'Jasper' flash on the screen, I frowned. I knew it was too early for Edward to contact me, but it didn't mean I couldn't hope. I opened the text message and smiled.

_B-_

_Please tell me you won't bail on me tonight!_

_-J_

I quickly typed a response and hit send.

_J-_

_Sorry, I got a better offer from someone with shorter hair._

_-B_

The response came in quickly and I laughed aloud.

_B-_

_If I hear the sounds of hair clippers in my nightmares, I blame you._

_-J_

I looked around to make sure I wouldn't get caught fucking around on my first day and saw that Rose was still under the Mustang.

_J-_

_Don't worry, your precious locks are safe with me. Yes, I'll be there at 7:15._

_-B_

I could almost hear Jasper's sigh of relief all the way from his house.

_B-_

_You rock ;)_

_-J_

I set my phone back in my purse and passed the next couple of hours cleaning the store. I knew my cleaning OCD would come in handy here, and before I knew it, I was on my hands and knees cleaning the ground. I used a special blend of Gojo and dish soap to get the grease up off the floor. When it was sparkling new, I smiled with a sense of accomplishment. At five minutes to seven, Rose walked through the door that connected the shop from the garage and gaped at the sight before her.

"Wow," she whistled. "I'd keep you around just for this! This is great, Bella!" I grinned and said my thanks.

"It got slow, so I made use of myself." Rose nodded and motioned at the clock.

"You did well today," she said honestly. "I'll be honest- I'm surprised. Remember, we're closed tomorrow, but we'll see you Monday morning at nine?" I nodded enthusiastically and grabbed my bag. Wishing her a great weekend, I left Rose and ran to my car. As much as I didn't want to baby-sit a bunch of kids, I was eager to fill my time with something, anything.

I pulled into Jasper's driveway five minutes later and grabbed my overnight bag. I wasn't sure if I was spending the night, but I brought it just in case. I approached the door and cocked my head to the side in amusement. I could hear people singing from inside, and I swore on my grandfather's grave that there was a male voice mixed in that was singing the song. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. Seconds later, the door opened and I froze.

Jasper stood in front of me wearing a black pair of jeans and a tight black shirt. He had on a pink pointed birthday hat that had wrapped elastic around his chin. The sight was comical, and I felt the laughter bubbling to the surface, but what surprised me was the fact that I thought he looked _good_.

"Bella!" Jasper screamed. He lunged forward and lifted me off the ground, spinning me in circles. I felt his arms close around me, pressing me to his chest. What caught me off guard next was the fact that he smelled heavenly.

I shook myself mentally and snapped out of it. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Put me down!" I squirmed. Jasper did as I said and laughed. He seemed completely at ease at the fact that he answered the door wearing such a ridiculous hat. But before I could question his attire, I heard several screams coming from the living room. I looked beyond Jasper and saw his twin sisters jumping up and down with several of their friends. They were standing in front of the large television, holding microphones and singing along to the Rock Band game that was playing.

"We're rockin' out," Jasper explained. "Please- join us." I shrugged and threw my bag in the corner next to the door, followed by my shoes. We wandered back in the living room and watched as his sisters, Rebecca and Claire, led the group in a rendition of what sounded like a Spice Girls' song.

"Duuuude," I muttered, "are we doing _this_ all night?" Jasper laughed and shrugged.

"I know it sucks, but I have to do anything they want. Including Rock Band." I plopped down on the couch, intent on being relaxed that evening.

"Bella, you know my sisters, but those midgets right there-" One of the girls turned around and shouted at Jasper with a southern twang.

"We aren't midgets!" But Jasper continued on as if she'd never spoke.

"Are Vanessa, Stephanie and Brianna." Ah, southern twang girl had a southern twang name… Brianna. She looked at me with large brown eyes.

"You can call me Bree." I smiled and waved at the girls.

"Hi, I'm Bella. You can call me Bella, or 'your majesty', whichever works best for you." The girl, Vanessa I think, laughed a high pitched hyena laugh, her blonde hair bouncing. My smile stayed in tact, but my eyes widened. Jasper sat next to me and sighed.

"See what I'm saying?" I just nodded.

"Yeah…" The girls began scrolling through a list of songs on the TV screen, landing on some song I'd never heard before.

"What is this crap?" I asked Jasper when the music started. He just shrugged and motioned his head towards the girl I had labeled 'Twig' in my mind (seriously, the child was as wide as my leg- I'd be afraid to touch her in case she snapped in half).

"'Company' brought the disc over, so we thought it would be 'polite' to play this 'music'." I snickered at how many times Jasper used air quotes.

"Yeah, well this 'music' sounds like a dying cat." Twig turned around and glared at me.

"This is Selena Gomez, not a dying cat." She let out a huff and turned her back to me. Jasper burst out laughing and I just stared in shock.

"My apologies, princess. Sing on." Jasper reached over and picked something off of the ground and then attached that something to my head. I could tell by the feel of it that it was a hat just like his.

"Really?" We probably looked like a pair of losers with the damn hats on.

"The hat helps you get in the celebrating mood, or some shit like that." Whatever, I would just go with the flow. We listened to the girls butcher song after song until Vanessa and Claire turned around and put their hands on their hips.

"We're hungry," Claire said. I wondered briefly how she knew _everyone_ was hungry when no one had a conversation about it, but I let it go.

"Pizza," Jasper stated. With that one word, the game was forgotten and they all started screaming in excitement. My hands flew up to my ears and I gaped in horror as each of the girls shouted out what they wanted.

"Pepperoni!"

"Sausage and pineapple!"

"We have to have vegetarian." What self respecting ten year old chose veggie?

"Alright, alright." Jasper climbed over the back of the couch and grabbed the house phone. As he placed the order for four different pizzas, I sighed and leaned back in my spot. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up a new text message.

_Thinking of you. Hope your trip is going well. –B_

I sent the text to both Edward and Alice and put my pone away. Jasper appeared then and fell onto the couch, putting his arm around me and pulling me close.

"I miss them, too. But stop being a party pooper." I scoffed and tried unsuccessfully to push Jasper away from me.

"Shut your trap."

"Jazzy!" Rebecca was suddenly standing in front of us, pulling on Jasper's arm. I raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but one look from him stopped the verbal diarrhea from making its appearance.

"What Becca?"

"You promised that you would sing us a song." Her voice was bordering on whining, but I ignored it. She had said the words that made the sun shine on this dark, dark night.

"You can sing?" I asked. He rolled his eyes and glared at his sister.

"Don't get too excited, Bella. She doesn't mean for me to actually _sing_." I watched curiously as Jasper stood and grabbed hold of one of the microphones. My face must have lit up like the fucking Fourth of July, because Jasper groaned at me.

"Bella, please." But I cut him off by jumping up and switching my seat so that I could see his face and not just his backside.

"No way, Whitlock. This is one of those things that create _memories_." Jasper smiled and nodded. Rebecca scrolled through the song choices as Jasper watched closely. Suddenly her face lit up at the same time his face turned into a look of horror.

"No!" he yelled. But Rebecca laughed along with the others and pressed a button on the Wii remote. And as the music blared through the speakers, my face lit up in recognition. _These girls were my heroes! _Jasper rushed towards me and leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"What I'm about to do remains unspoken of outside the walls of this house. I am only doing this for my sisters and to see that beautiful smile of yours." His breath fanned over me as he pulled away, and I was suddenly lost in the essence that was Jasper. My skin turned warm with a blush, and I could see the question on Jasper's face as he pulled away. He blinked a couple of times and turned to the screen just as the lyrics started scrolling.

_I hopped off the plane at LAX_

_With a dream and my cardigan_

Jasper hopped in place as he belted out the lyrics as if he were trying out for American Idol.

_Welcome to the land of fame excess_

_Am I gonna fit in?_

I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing aloud.

_Jumped in the cab, here I am for the first time_

_Look to my right and I see the Hollywood sign_

Jasper turned to his right as if he could actually see the damn sign.

_This is all so crazy_

He made a circular motion along his temple, mimicking 'crazy'

_Everybody seems so famous_

_My tummy's turnin' and I'm feelin' kinda homesick _

_Too much pressure and I'm nervous,_

_That's when the taxi man turned on the radio_

I let a laugh out when Jasper's voice cracked with the high note.

_And a Jay Z song was on_

_And the Jay Z song was on_

_So I put my hands up_

I was practically on the floor with tears rolling down my face. Jasper was belting out the lyrics with everything he had, raising his hands in the air as if he were fucking Tina Turner.

_They're playin' my song_

_And the butterflies fly away_

_Noddin' my head like yeah_

Jasper's head bobbed up and down and I could see laughter etched on his face.

_Moving my hips like yeah_

I almost pissed myself laughing when Jasper's hips moved back and forth.

_And I got my hands up_

_They're playin' my song_

_I know I'm gonna be okay_

_Yeaaahhhhh_

_It's a party in the USA!_

Laughter filled the room, and not just from me and Jasper. His sisters and their friends were holding on to each other while tears ran down their faces. He couldn't even finish the song, he was laughing so hard, and he tossed the microphone on the couch.

"Oh my God!" I cried. "That was the greatest thing I've ever seen in my entire life!" Just then the doorbell rang, and the girls screamed out for pizza, Jasper's performance forgotten. I still wasn't able to stand, so Jasper turned off the Wii and went to the door, shaking his head with laughter the entire way.

"Tyler!" Jasper's exclamation caught me off guard and I forced myself to stand.

"Hey Jasper. These pizza's aren't all for you, are they? I heard some girl singing from the driveway, I guess you have people over?" I faltered in my steps as I bit back the laughter that bubbled up again, and I rounded the corner. Jasper was taking the pizzas from Tyler's hands with an offended look on his face, so I leapt into Tyler's arms for a hug.

"Ty!" He laughed and squeezed me back.

"Hey Bella. Edward and Alice here?" I shook my head and saw the shock in his eyes.

"I know, right?" I like I said, the four of us were always together. "Edward and Alice are on vacation." Tyler nodded in understanding as Jasper handed him a fifty dollar bill.

"Keep the change, dude. Courtesy of Mama Whitlock." Tyler grinned and pocketed the bill.

"Thanks, man. You guys should give me a call, we'll hang." I nodded and punched him in the shoulder.

"Jasper and I are planning a birthday party for the twins for when they come back. It's a surprise, so I'll see you when I get your invite to you." We exchanged another hug and then he was gone.

"Grub!" Jasper yelled out. We walked back into the living room to see all five girls dancing wildly to a song on the stereo.

"What the hell?" I said. Jasper set the pizza boxes down and sent me a smile.

"This is going to be another one of those moments that create _memories_." He removed the birthday hat and walked up to stand between his sisters and crouched down so that his hands were rested on his knees. He hunched his back and sent me a wink. I didn't know the song, but apparently everyone else did, because all the girls mimicked Jasper's position as what I assumed to be the chorus started.

_I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth._

And all three Whitlock children started swinging their heads back and forth, their curls flinging around as if they were having a seizure.

"Oh my God!" I cried out as Jasper literally _whipped his head back and forth_ in time to the music. I could honestly say that this image was what I would think of if I ever heard this song again.

The chorus ended and Jasper stood up straight, his curly hair sticking up in every direction possible. He snapped his birthday hat back on over the mess. My laughter didn't stop, but all five girls made their way into the dining room to start on the pizza, ignoring what had just happened as if it were a regular occurrence. And then it hit me that there was more to Jasper than I had known. I jumped up and threw my arms around Jasper's shoulders. Ignoring the flutter in my stomach when his arms circled my waist, I leaned in to whisper in his ear,

"That is _so_ going to be your new ring tone."

* * *

**PLEASE REVIIIEEEWWWW! It would make me oh so freaking happy.**

**I really hope everyone likes the story- for some odd reason (well, maybe not odd) I need approval from all of you. **

**The song Jasper sings along to on the Rock Band is of course Miley Cyrus "Party in the USA" - I heard it on the radio and the image of Jasper/Jackson singing it popped in my head. So of course I had to shove it in here. And the other song is that Willow Smith song "Whip my Hair"- one of the girls I work with introduced it to me, and she actually had her daughter and her friends doing that move where they grab their knees and whip their head. I thought it was absolutely hilarious... especially when she and I started doing it at work. That's right people- a 25 year old and 38 year old whipping it at work. LMAO.**

**I am already writing chapter three, so hopefully I'll have that posted by Wednesday night. BUT- I've been suffering from insomnia, so my sleep schedule is all fuckered up. If I'm a day late or so, don't send out the calvary. Love you all! 3 Ashley**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello all! Like I predicted, I was a few days late on updating, but this is because I've been sick most of this week. I'm sure you understand, because this is the season for the flus etc. But here it is! Hope you love!**

**D/C: I do not own Twilight, nor do I own any of the charachters portrayed in the book and/or movie. I do, however, own the bad boy Jasper that is mentioned in this chapter. Because his name is 'J' in my head, and the way he looks is scrumdidilyumptious and I want to put him in my pocket forever and feed him Skittles... *grin***

* * *

The birthday sleepover had long since ended, and I smiled at the sound of the girls' snoring floating to me from upstairs. I now sat on the couch, upside down. That's right. My feet were up in the air while I watched television from this interesting angle.

"These guys are hard core," I muttered to Jasper. He was lying sideways with his feet on my stomach as we watched '_Alaska State Troopers'_ on Nat Geo Wild. He grunted, his eyes trained on the screen as one of the troopers tried to cut a buffalo's head off with a knife.

"That's not going to work," Jasper muttered. "It's like negative thirty degrees out." He was right- the trooper went and got an ax and returned, effectively disconnecting the head from the body. My hair was falling down around my head, and I welcomed the head rush that came with all the blood rushing to the one spot.

"You're going to loose brain cells if you keep lying like that," Jasper commented nonchalantly. I shrugged, poking his ankle as it shifted on my stomach.

"I'll just borrow yours," I replied. Our banter was becoming so normal now that he just smiled.

"Seriously, hard core," Jasper said as he watched the trooper on the TV jump on a snow mobile and take off across the terrain.

"Let's head to Alaska after graduation," I said, only half joking. "We'll become Alaska state troopers and learn how to fight bears and pull frozen dead people out of rivers." I could see Jasper shake his head in laughter and with the birthday hat tilted on his head in an attempt at making it look cool, he looked adorable.

"I don't think Alice and Edward would agree to that," Jasper said. I only shrugged. "But who needs them? Bella, will you run away with me to the Alaskan wilderness and be my Eskimo queen?" I couldn't contain the laughter and soon found Jasper helping me into a sitting position. The blood rushed back to my lower extremities and I swayed in place.

"Whoa there, Eskimo queen." Jasper's hands pressed on my shoulders to keep me from falling over. Once I gained my balance, I sat down right next to Jasper and leaned into him. His arm draped over my shoulders naturally and we continued to watch the show.

"So, what do you say?" I looked over at Jasper in question.

"About what?" Jasper only laughed.

"About being my Eskimo queen. I can sweep you off into the arctic tundra and we can make little Eskimo babies." I knew Jasper was joking with me, and I laughed. But _nothing_ prepared me for the fluttering in my stomach at his words.

"Sure," I laughed, pushing the butterflies aside. "Just learn how to chop a bison in pieces with an ax and we'll get right on that." The look on Jasper's face was priceless. He cringed at the thought of cutting into animal flesh and shook his head.

"Sorry, darlin', but I can't commit to this type of relationship at this time in my life." His expression turned almost mocking. "It's not you, it's me." I elbowed him in his stomach and continued to watch the television in peace.

Just then, the front door opened and I glanced at the clock located on the cable box and saw that it was almost one in the morning. I had sent my mother a text almost two hours ago and let her know that I was spending the night at Jasper's.

"Ah, kids, you're still awake." I sat up a little straighter and smiled as Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock took off their coats.

"Someone had to make sure you weren't running the streets creating mayhem," Jasper joked. Mr. Whitlock rolled his eyes as he gently smacked his son over the head. Jasper's father was an attractive older man, with short brown hair and a goatee. You could see the gray hairs starting to poke out in different spots, and I loved that he would claim each gray hair was a reflection of each crazy thing Jasper had done. All three Whitlock children got their hair from their mother and I marveled only for a moment at how elegant she looked in a red cocktail dress.

"How was the ballet?" I asked. They both smiled and exchanged a loving look with one another.

"Magical, Bella, thank you for asking," Mrs. Whitlock said. "And thank you for helping Jasper with the girls. I can imagine they were a handful." I shook my head.

"No, they were great." Mr. Whitlock glanced then at the TV and grimaced as he watched one of the troopers skin a moose that was hit by a car. He looked at Jasper and then at me.

"And here we thought _you _were the normal one," he said to me. Both Jasper and I laughed as Mr. Whitlock grimaced again and walked to his wife.

"We're heading up to bed, you two don't stay up too late." Jasper eyed his parents for a moment before he pointed a finger of warning at his dad.

"You two better not have sex until we're asleep. We'll be able to hear you." I smacked Jasper in shock as his parents turned red.

"Good night, Jasper," his dad called and Jasper just laughed. I settled back down against my human pillow, getting immersed in the show once again.

"Why do you egg your dad on like that?" I asked him. I felt Jasper shrug beneath me. Jasper didn't move his eyes away from the screen, he just grinned his signature grin.

"He's got two girls who are fast approaching puberty, and I have to keep him on his toes. You know, preparation." I turned slightly so that I was facing him.

"No, really." Jasper glanced at me for just a second but forced his eyes back to the show. I refused to look away from him, actually wanting a straight answer from him. Jasper finally sighed and turned his attention to me.

"What?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and gave him a _look_.

"Tell me," I said gently. "Give me a straight answer. No bull shit, no hidden doors, no rhinestones." Jasper raised an eyebrow at my phrase but didn't comment on it. He reached over to turn down the volume on the television and threw the remote to the coffee table. He turned to me, his joking expression gone and his blue eyes hard. The change in his features came as a shock to me, but I tried not to let it show on my face.

"Bella," he began softly, "there are only a handful of people that I am able to be myself with. Really, truly myself. Everyone expects me to be this serious person whose life revolves around his studies so he can be a lawyer just like his dad." Jasper swallowed thickly, and his Adam's apple bobbed. "It's why my parents don't make me get a job- they want me to study all the time so I can get into Harvard or some shit." I found myself inching forward as Jasper's voice dropped.

"The only people I can let loose around and show my less serious side is basically Edward, Alice, my dad…and you." I smiled when Jasper's eyes softened. "Even around my mother I'm expected to be respectful and serious, which I understand completely, but it's rare that I'm able to be an actual teenager around her. So… I become an extra pain in the ass around the people who accept me for me, while I can. This way I don't burst from spontaneous combustion when I'm around the people who have sticks up their asses." I laughed gently and looked back at the TV. Now that the volume was down, I could see how someone would think the show was weird. After all, what would you think if you saw a bunch of guys getting pepper sprayed voluntarily while rolling around in the snow?

"I like when you're yourself," I told Jasper as I looked at the TV.

"Yeah?" I looked at him and rolled my eyes at the birthday hat he still adorned. I reached over and yanked it off of his head, sending some of his curls askew.

"Hater," he muttered, smoothing his hair down. I threw the hat on the ground and positioned myself once more to where I was leaning against Jasper. When I felt Jasper's arm fall around my shoulders again, I closed my eyes. Edward's face flashed through my mind, and I felt my heart stutter. I hadn't talked to him today and I wished that I could hear his voice right that moment.

"Go to sleep," Jasper whispered. My eyes opened and I shook my head.

"I'm not tired." He chuckled and gave me a half hug.

"Okay." His attention was on the television as our show ended and he changed the channel. I was, in fact, tired. So I closed my eyes and let the feel of Jasper's chest rising and falling with each breath lull me to sleep.

* * *

I could feel someone touch my leg, pressing their fingers into my thighs as they pulled me closer. I moaned quietly as I felt the familiarity of the touch. _Edward._ He came home early? I tried to open my eyes but found that the feeling of euphoria that flowed through me was best when I didn't struggle with my heavy eyelids. So instead, I reached down and touched Edward's hand. I noticed how warm his skin was. _He _was_ in the Bahamas…maybe he got a sunburn?_ I moved against him, begging for his touches to continue. I realized then that we had very little room to move. Where were we? On his bed? I imagined the king sized bed and immediately dismissed the possibility. If we were on his bed, I would be able to roll over without meeting air. Something sparked in my mind, and I remembered a couch…

Edward pulled harder on my hips, pulling me even closer to him. I could feel his hardness pressed against my stomach as he ground into me. A soft groan left him and it only egged me on. I moved my hands to his shoulder, not noticing right away that he felt _different_. All I could comprehend was that Edward was allowing our physical relationship to progress. I arched into him, loving the feeling of his body pressed against me. My breath hitched in my throat as I stifled a moan.

"Mmm, that feels so good."

I froze.

My eyes shot open.

And there was Jasper.

I cried out and flew backwards, falling off of the couch in the matter of a second. My head hit the corner of the coffee table and I cried out again, but this time in pain. I heard a noise from the couch and watched as Jasper peeked over the edge.

"Bella?" He seemed confused. "Are you okay? What are you doing on the floor?" His voice was laced with sleep as he tried to comprehend the surroundings. My eyes widened, and I moved my hand away from my head. My stomach lurched when I saw that there was blood covering my fingers.

"Oh my God!" Jasper leapt off of the couch and crouched beside me, his hands immediately replacing mine. I felt the warmth of his skin and I could feel my face turn red as I remembered Jasper touching me.

My mind was spinning, and when I looked down I saw the bulge in Jasper's pants that I had very clearly felt pressed against my stomach. I could feel the tears prick the corner of my eyes at how Jasper and I had acted.

_Please let this be a dream. Please, oh please._

There was noise from upstairs and I heard footsteps fall on the stairs. _No, no, no._ Mr. and Mrs. Whitlock appeared, worry on their tired faces.

"What happened?" Mrs. Whitlock's mother bear came out as she rushed to my side. I froze for the second time in two minutes and felt my jaw drop open. I had _no_ words for her. My eyes darted over to Jasper and I saw that he did not look panicked. As a matter of fact, he looked only… worried?

"I woke up to Bella falling off of the couch," Jasper explained while trying to apply pressure to my wound with a towel that had been left out. I stared at him in shock. He didn't remember. He didn't remember at all. My face flushed again and I reached up to take over applying wound to my head. When I felt Jasper's fingers on my own I pushed away the fluttering in my stomach and tried to stand.

"I'm fine. I just had a dream and was caught off guard." My explanation was weak, but Jasper's parents accepted it without a second guess. They stood, and Mr. Whitlock reached down to help me to my feet. I stood on my own two feet, thankfully, without any help. Jasper stepped forward and started prodding at my head wound.

"Bella, I think you need stitches." I closed my eyes and shook my head.

"No, I'm fine." He opened his mouth to argue, but I sidestepped him and made my way to the bathroom. I could feel all three members of the Whitlock family stare after me, but I tried my hardest to ignore it. I couldn't hold my composure any longer, and I felt the tears rising to the surface.

Closing myself into the first floor bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror and gasped. My eyes were wide and glassy and the tears were beginning their path along my cheeks. I wanted to gag at the sight of the tears mixing with blood, but I proudly held it back. Moving my hand away from the wound, I grimaced when I found my assessment along side of Jasper's. I needed stitches, soon. The gash was at least an inch long, right along my hair line. Blood was flowing slowly, right into my tears. My hair was sticking up in several directions, and I shuddered at the sight of the blood streaked in my hair.

"Bella?" I jumped at the sound of Jasper's voice right outside of the bathroom and tried to draw in a shaky breath. "Bells, are you okay?" He sounded so concerned. It was sweet.

"Yeah?" It sounded like a question.

"You need stitches, Bella. I know you do," he said through the door. "Please let me in so I can help you." I took another shaky breath and reached for the doorknob. Opening it, I saw Jasper standing against the door frame with an anxious expression on his face.

"Oh, Bella." His eyes immediately went to my cut and he pulled me into his arms for a hug. I was still, but tried as hard as I could to return the hug. He didn't remember what happened on the couch. He didn't remember touching me and pressing himself into me and saying that it felt good.

He never had to remember. And I never had to tell him.

"I'm okay," I whispered. "But I do need stitches." Jasper pulled back and I gave him a small smile. He wouldn't remember, and I wouldn't help him remember. It was like it never happened.

"Let's get you to the hospital," Jasper said, pulling me behind him. We didn't bother getting dressed, as we had fallen asleep in our clothes last night. So, feeling slightly gross and sore from the confines of the sofa, we drove to the hospital and signed me in. Some of the staff knew who Jasper and I were because of our association with the Cullen family, so that helped me get in faster.

I was sitting in one of the curtained-off exam areas with Jasper when suddenly the ugly blue material was ripped aside and there stood a uniformed officer, his face pale.

"Dad!" I exclaimed. He rushed forward and embraced me, sufficiently cutting off all air supply to my body. I looked at Jasper and he held his hands up and backed away, shaking his head.

"What are you doing here? You didn't have to come," I managed to choke out. My dad let me go and backed away, his brown eyes so much like my own flashing with surprise.

"What? What do you mean? Of course I'm going to come! How could _you _not call your mother and me to let us know you were in the hospital?" I rolled my eyes and glanced once again at Jasper.

"It's just a couple of stitches," I muttered. In fact, when the doctor had looked at it, he said it was going to take roughly ten sutures to close the cut. Lucky me. "Why called you?" Charlie stepped back and glared at me.

"Let's just say that when the Chief of Police's daughter walks into the ER _without _the Chief of Police, someone makes a phone call." Damn narks.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Bella bad. Bella irresponsible." The curtain pulled back the rest of the way and the doctor stepped back in. She was about my father's age and she had a large smile that showed a lot of pearly white teeth. Dr. Whitney. AKA Dr. Flirts-a-lot.

"Hello again! You must be Chief Swan." Dr. Flirts-a-lot stared at my father like he was a sirloin steak and stuck her hand out. My dad politely shook her hand in return and I could see him struggle to get it back when she wouldn't release it right away. I glanced at Jasper and saw that he was grinning at me. He was waiting for my sarcasm and my quick wit to get me in trouble, I knew it.

Dr. Flirts-a-lot continued to stare at my father while he looked anywhere but at her. After about twenty seconds, I sighed and snapped my fingers in front of her face.

"Hi there, remember me? The bleeding patient? Yeah, I thought so." Dr. Flirts-a-lot giggled (_giggled_!) and turned away from my dad, who was clearly uncomfortable with the sudden attention. I glared at the doctor again and watched as she prepped a tray for my stitches. She pulled the gauze away from the wound and started to dab at it with a brown colored liquid. I looked at Charlie and saw that he looked queasy. Really? The Chief of fucking Police got nauseous over a bit of blood?

"You don't have to stay and watch guys," I muttered when Dr. Flirts-a-lot stuck me with a needle. I felt a slight heat flow through my scalp, and I welcomed the numbing shot with open arms. Charlie looked at me with an expression that said 'Are you sure?' I nodded and waved my hand at him.

"Go ahead, I'll be fine." I didn't have to speak twice, and he was gone before I could blink. Laughing, I moved my eyes on to Jasper. He was watching as Dr. Flirts-a-lot slipped on a new pair of gloves and opened a suture kit.

"Jasper, you don't have to stay," I pushed out. I wanted him to stay. I didn't want to be alone behind that curtain with a doctor that would rather press herself against a married man than complete patient care properly. I wanted him to hold my hand when the needle stuck me. Like he was reading my mind, Jasper stepped forward and slipped his hand in my own.

"Of course I'm going to stay. You think I'm going to leave you alone with Bright and Shiny over here?" Jasper glanced at Dr. Flirts-a-lot when her head snapped up. "No offense, you understand." I stifled back a laugh as she glared at him, all traces of a smile gone.

"If she sticks me somewhere unrelated to my head wound, I'm coming after you," I muttered to him. I squeezed Jasper's hand when the doctor began to suture my head back together. I only felt a little tug, but I watched Jasper's face the entire time. I don't know why, but I felt like I needed to torture myself for just a moment.

Even wearing yesterday's clothing, Jasper looked refreshed. His hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail, hiding his curls. He hadn't shaved, and his shirt was slightly wrinkled, but even then he looked handsome.

My mind began to travel, and I wondered for the briefest moment what would have happened if I hadn't been so smitten with Edward when Jasper came to town. Would I have tried to date him? Would I have had a crush on him, just like Alice? Would he have felt the same about me? Hell, we may not have been friends.

"What are you thinking about?" Jasper asked, his brows furrowed together. I looked back at Dr. Flirts-a-lot, who desperately needed a mint, and tried not to move.

"Nothing. Just thinking." His hand squeezed mine as he laughed.

"I thought I smelled something burning." I rolled my eyes and glared.

"You're lucky I have a needle to my head right now, or I'd kick your ass." We laughed and I shook off my earlier thoughts. There was no reason to think that way, the events that happened that morning shouldn't affect me at all.

Just then my phone rang in my pocket. I moved my arm and motioned for Jasper to get it out. His fingers delved into my pocket for just a second before he resurfaced with it.

"It's Edward." My heart stuttered in my chest and I glanced at Jasper worriedly.

"Can you answer it?" I asked.

"No phones allowed," Dr. Flirts-a-lot said shortly. Hmm, maybe a smile on that face was better than what she had now.

"Don't worry, I'll go outside," Jasper rolled his eyes at her. He disappeared from the room and left me alone with the bipolar doctor. After a minute of silence she decided to open her unpleasant smelling mouth.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Seriously? This woman was going to pry into a teenagers business?

"Uh, no. Best friend." She nodded as if she understood, and I eyed her warily as she finished up the sutures. When she cut off the thread, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"I never held my friends' hands like that when I was a kid." I froze for just a moment and then slowly turned to look at the woman I suddenly wanted to push through a window.

"Well, in the nineteen thirties, it wasn't appropriate to touch _anyone_. Times have changed, grandma." And with that, I jumped off of the cot and walked out. I could feel her anger burning from where she stood, but I knew she wasn't worth my time. I just hoped she didn't say anything to my dad. I was raised better than to treat my elders with disrespect, but she hit a button.

I found Jasper standing with my dad in the check out area, and sighed with relief that Jasper was off of the phone.

"I'm done. What did Edward say?" Both Jasper and my dad laughed and shook their heads.

"Edward states he is going to get his father to cancel their trip early and he's going to come back and keep you safe, even if that means getting you a padded suit." My father's words shocked me and I gaped at him.

"Are you freaking kidding me?"

"Language, Bella." I rolled my eyes and my dad and looked at Jasper.

"Please tell me he's just joking." Jasper shook his head and handed me my phone back.

"No, Edward said just that. But Carlisle said you would be just fine, and that they weren't going anywhere. Edward told me to tell you he would call later." I nodded and pocketed the cell phone, ready to go home.

"Let's go," I sighed. Jasper threw his arm around my shoulder and steered me towards the automatic doors. I could see my dad look us with questions in his eyes, but I refused to acknowledge the display of affection between Jasper and I. We were just friends. Only friends and nothing more. Friends could hold hands and drape arms over shoulders, right?

Jasper drove us back to my house while my dad returned to work. I texted Edward and Alice letting them know I was fine and that I would talk to them later, while Jasper texted his mom to let her know we were at my place.

"So what do you want to do?" Jasper asked me as we collapsed on the couch. I looked around and groaned when my eyes landed on the clock. Half my day was gone, and tomorrow I would have to return to work.

"There's not really any time to do anything," I sighed. "It's already two in the afternoon." Jasper looked around and nodded. Standing, he stretched, his back cracking loudly.

"Okay, well I'm going to go home and take a shower. Then I'm going to come back and you and I are going to spend the remainder of today planning this party idea you have, and maybe watch a movie. Is that good?" I only paused for a second before nodding.

"Bring sustenance," I said with a smile. "Because I have nothing to eat in this house, and under doctor's orders I am to be spoiled and well taken care of." Jasper stared at me disbelievingly.

"I do _not_ remember the doctor saying _anything _about that." My eyebrows rose in mock surprise.

"Really? Well, Dr. Flirts-a-lot said a lot of things that you weren't there to hear, especially since you weren't there for a bit of our interaction. You know, with your very important phone call and all." Jasper laughed at my nick name for the doctor and shook his head. He nudged my leg with his foot and made his way to the front door.

"I will be back in an hour, smelling like roses with food in hand." I shook my head, purposely looking to have the last word.

"I don't like my men to smell like roses. I would prefer a manly smell. Maybe old spice. Or woods. Or dirt. Yeah, roll around in some dirt and smudge some oil on your cheeks or something." Jasper's chuckle vibrated through the room, and he wiped his hand over his face.

"You're a special woman, Isabella Swan. Special indeed." With that, he walked out the door and I was left in silence. Special? I was special? I shook my head slowly and stood, making my way up the stairs and into my room to retrieve clothes before I took a shower. My mind was reeling with the events that happened today. Although nothing momentous happened to where I couldn't grasp anything, still… my mind was still full. Full of Jasper, and of thoughts that I wasn't supposed to have. Full of internal doubts and of questions.

Questions that I had to push away and ignore. Because no matter what, I was not allowed to have any feelings, other than friendship, towards Jasper Whitlock.

Feeling satisfied that I had ended all thoughts relating to the 'issues', I took a quick shower, careful not to touch the bandage that covered my stitches. Dressed in black jeans, a white long sleeved shirt and feeling refreshed, I pulled my hair back into a loose bun. I didn't want my hair flying around my face today, especially when it hurt like hell to pull it away from the adhesive holding the bandage down.

I made my way downstairs and straightened the living room in preparation for an evening of 'hanging out'. Pulling out my cell phone, I called my mom, realizing that I hadn't spoken to her all day. I was sure that my dad had called her to let her know what happened to me, but I figured a personal call would be better.

"Hello?" I heard laughter in the background when my mother answered her phone and I paused before speaking.

"Mom? It's me." The laughter stopped and my mother seemed surprised to hear from me.

"Oh! Bella, what are you up to? Everything okay?" I stared out the window at my street, frowning at the fact that it rained even on a summer day.

"Yeah, everything is fine. Just wondered if I was going to see you today. Haven't seen you since yesterday morning, actually." The laughter started up again and I pulled the phone away from my ear to stare at the name. Silly enough, I wanted to make sure that I was actually speaking to my mother and not Jessica or someone.

"Oh, sweetie, yeah I'm out with the girls from work. I won't be home until later tonight, so you and your dad can do dinner without me. I gotta go sweetie, I'll see you later!" I opened my mouth to respond, but was met with silence.

"Oh well," I muttered. I threw my phone on the couch and dug a notebook out of the coffee table drawer. I had a little time before Jasper showed up, so I planned on starting the birthday plans early.

I sat at the kitchen table and started making a list of our closest friends. _Jessica, Tyler, Angela, Mike, Ben… _after I added about thirty names, I realized that the list of 'closest friends' was getting a little out of hand. And it occurred to me that I didn't know how big Jasper and I were going to make this party. If we didn't invite everyone who expected an invite, we could end up on someone's shit list. I threw my head back in aggravation, wincing at the tug I felt in my stitches. I was starting to get a headache, so I stood and went looking for a bottle of Tylenol.

While I found my headache relief, I thought about where we would hold the party. Would my parents mind if I had it here? Would Jasper's parents want it at their house? I immediately dismissed the idea when I thought of the china cabinets full of historical items that Mr. Whitlock collected, scattered throughout the house. All we needed was some idiot person to knock into one of the cabinets and send it crashing to the ground, thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia destroyed. I cringed at the thought and struck Jasper's house off of the list permanently.

Maybe we could have it at the Cullen house… would that be tacky? Throwing someone a party and having it at their house? No, not if we involved Carlisle and Esme. Maybe that's what I would have to do. I went back to the table and looked down at the list. Edward and Alice were very popular, friendly with practically all of the students at Forks High School. Even if Jasper and I were never seen without them, and were considered 'popular' as well, I didn't do friendly time with the natives. I kept close to my friends and just nodded at the others. Was that rude? I didn't think so. It wasn't like I was mean to anyone, I just didn't go searching for attention.

The doorbell rang, breaking me out of my mental argument. I opened the door to see Jasper, arms laden with bags. He grinned and walked past me towards the kitchen. I stood there like an idiot, my mouth open as my eyes raked up and down his body.

He had chosen to wear one of his 'bad boy' outfits, as I always called it. His hair was still damp, slicked back away from his face. When it dried completely, the curls would come alive. He wore a dark olive green shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The top two buttons were undone, and a pair of sunglasses were hanging right in the opening. Over his shirt, he had on a black vest, undone. His shirt wasn't tucked in, and hung over dark blue jeans that hung just right over his hips. When my eyes hit the floor and I saw his black boots, I heard whimper escape my lips.

"You okay?" My eyes flew up to meet Jasper's, and I noticed right away that the green of his shirt made his eyes hazel.

"Yep," I choked out. I pushed the door shut, effectively cutting off the sound of the falling rain. I walked right up to Jasper and watched his eyes follow me curiously. I reached out and plucked the sunglasses from his shirt.

"It's fifty degrees out, overcast and raining. Why do you have sunglasses?" He laughed and took them out of my hands. He leaned back against the table, bringing his eyes close to my level. I watched as his eyes studied me for a second and almost like he came to a conclusion, he put the sunglasses on, covering his blue eyes. I wanted to yank the frames from his face, to throw them on the ground and curse them for covering those blue pools. But I stood there and watched as he leaned his head down and looked at me over the top of the glasses. My heart stuttered once and went into overdrive.

"Because," he whispered, "I get a great reaction out of them." I closed my eyes and swallowed. Stepping back, I forced myself to walk away. I had to get away from this topic, I had to change my focus to something else. I wanted to smack Jasper upside his head for making the thoughts that I had _clearly _pushed away, come flying back to me.

"Asshole," I said loudly. Jasper laughed and took the sunglasses off, tucking them back into their spot on his shirt. I wanted to take the sunglasses away and shove them into a drawer.

"I brought food to make us a late lunch, as well as snacks and things to last the night." Jasper started taking things out of the bags he brought, spreading them on the table. My mouth began to water at the sight of deli meats, cheeses, bread, oranges, chips, popcorn, drinks, and even ice cream.

"You didn't have to get all of this," I said with a laugh. Jasper only shrugged and walked over to the sink to wash his hands.

"It's no biggie. My parents took the twins into Seattle for their birthday. They wanted to go to some amusement park, and I would rather hang myself than go." He looked at me as he rinsed the soap off of his hands. "This is the better alternative." I gaped at him and looked around for something to throw at him.

"I can't believe you associated being _hung_ to hanging out with me!" I finally settled on a pint of ice cream and chucked it at his head. Jasper caught it easily and laughed.

"I'm playing, Bella. You know that." I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as he made sandwiches for the two of us. It was nice, having someone make the food for once. I quickly put away the other groceries and sat down in my regular chair.

"I started making a guest list," I offered into the conversation. Jasper looked over at the notebook and nodded.

"That doesn't seem so bad," he said as he sliced a tomato. I shook my head and gave him an apologetic look.

"I stopped writing names when I realized that Edward and Alice are friends with all of the high school." Jasper stopped and looked up at the ceiling in thought.

"Are they really?" he finally asked. I sighed and nodded, picking at the corner of the paper.

"When I met them, it was at a party they were throwing at their house. And I swear, all of Forks was there. Everyone knows them, and they know everyone." Jasper began cutting an onion, and I backed away a little. The smell didn't seem to bother him as he added the slivers to both sandwiches. I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't like onions, and made the silent decision to pick them off before I ate. He would never know.

"So, we're inviting everyone in Forks? It doesn't seem possible." And then Jasper looked up in the middle of adding muenster cheese to his creation. "Um, where the hell are we going to hold this thing? Neither of our places are big enough to hold the population of Forks High." I watched as he delicately placed equal amounts of turkey and ham to each sandwich.

"Well, I don't think anyone will come to a party that is held at the Police Chief's house. And your parents won't allow it. I doubt they would want their museum ruined." Jasper's eyes widened in shock and he shook his head.

"No, no they wouldn't." I sighed and glanced up at Jasper before I spoke again.

"What do you think about asking Carlisle and Esme to hold the party at their house? We already know it'll hold everyone. Or do you think it's completely tacky?" I waited as Jasper assembled both ends of the sandwiches and placed them on plates. He scooped up some chips and placed them next to his creation, licking his fingers when he was done. I was amazed at how easily he made lunch for the two of us, and I watched as his tongue darted out to clean his fingers off, one by one. The sound of him clearing his throat was the only thing that tore my eyes away from his cleaning detail, and when I saw that he was watching me with a gleam in his eyes, I dropped my eyes in horror. My face erupted in fire at the realization that Jasper had seen me.

"No, I don't think it'll be tacky." I swallowed hard and tried to calm the blush that threatened to set my face aflame. Was spontaneous combustion possible?

"Are you sure?" I managed to choke out. "I don't want to offend anyone." Jasper placed a plate in front of me and sat down in the same seat he occupied the day before. I took a bite of the thick sandwich and closed my eyes, moaning in pleasure.

"Oh my God, this is _amazing_!" I chewed quickly, wanting to devour the entire thing in the matter of a minute. I opened my eyes to see that Jasper was staring at my lips with his mouth open slightly. It was my turn to clear my throat, and I watched as Jasper's eyes darted up to mine quickly.

"Uh, yeah, my mom taught me how to cook. Well, this isn't really cooking, but you know what I mean." Jasper shoved his sandwich in his mouth and we sat in silence as we ate. My mind was going a million miles an hour at how ridiculous I felt. Is this how the next three weeks were going to be? Were Jasper and I going to throw flirtatious comments at each other and then act embarrassed about it?

I swallowed my last bite and set my hand on Jasper's arm. His head snapped up, his eyes searching my face.

"Thanks for lunch," I said with a smile. He grinned in return and nodded.

"You're welcome. But next time, you cook. You're high maintenance." I smacked him lightly and started to pick up. Jasper helped and we were relaxing in the living room before I knew it. I lay down on the couch, my legs bent so that I could use my thighs as a writing tablet. Jasper sat at my feet, his arm draped over my knees. The posture seemed so normal, and I pushed away all thoughts that might construe it as something else. He was one of my best friends. End of story. Nothing else about it. Dr. Flirts-a-lot can go suck it.

"So, I figure I'll text Carlisle and ask him to call me in regards to the party," I said. "This way we can make sure the nosy twins don't catch on." Jasper nodded and ran his fingernail along the seam of my jeans.

"Sounds good. So how are we going to know who to invite? We can't exactly post it on the internet and hope everyone comes." I tapped my pen on the notebook as I thought.

"Do you even know everyone's names in the school?" Jasper added. I glared at him for all of a second before I sat up.

"Yes! I do!" I threw the notebook at him and ran upstairs. Digging around my closet, I found that years' yearbook that I had thrown in there just a couple of weeks ago. Heading down the stairs, I sat next to Jasper and opened the book right in the middle.

"Here," I said simply. Jasper laughed and nodded.

"Okay, that works. It's a small town, we'll get invitations to everyone who is worthy of one." Jasper and I then spent the next two hours going through every page of the book, writing down the name of everyone who would get an invitation. When we were done, I groaned.

"One hundred and thirty eight." Jasper's eyes widened and he threw his head back to look up at the ceiling.

"That's a lot of fucking people," he muttered. His head turned to face me. "How the hell are we going to pull of a party for almost a hundred and fifty people in less than three weeks?" I knew what he meant- this was going to be crazy.

"Well, when I'm at work I'll be able to plan. As long as I'm doing my normal work duties as well, I won't get in trouble." Jasper nodded.

"I can always go to your work, too. This way you aren't the only one doing the work." I laughed and threw the notebook and yearbook on the floor.

"We could always say fuck it and forget the idea all together," I offered. Jasper sat up straight and leaned in to where I could smell a distinct wave of cologne. I sighed in pleasure at the aroma, loving the fact that he smelled _manly_.

"You trying to get rid of me, Swan?" His voice was smooth and calming. I opened my eyes and felt my heart stutter for the millionth time that day.

"No," I whispered. "Not at all."

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**PLEASE REVIEW! With every review, I will send you sexy 'J' smiles, which you, too, can carry around in your pocket and use as often as you'd like ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again! I know I just posted chapter three less than a full day ago, but I've been dying to write _this_ chapter for a while! So of course I spit it out reeaaalll quick lol. It's full of lemony goodness (I'm sure you've all been waiting for it!), and part of it is in Jasper's POV. I've been thinking about how to write things from his point of view, and someone's review (;p) even brought it to my attention that it would be nice to know what he was thinking. So, sit back and enjoy. Make sure your hands are above the blanket, because if you start moanin' and groanin' while reading this, we all know what you're doing! **

**D/C: I do not own Twilight, nor do I own any of the characters portrayed in the book and/or movie. I do, however, own a bottle of hair dye so I can get rid of the red I had experimented with and bring myself back to my blonde glory. Wish me luck, I'm hoping it doesn't turn green! 3 Ash**

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Bella's POV

The house was buried in a blanket of darkness, all but the flickering of the television. I had been sound asleep, curled up on my end of the couch, dreaming of the desert and the hot air on my face. I suddenly found myself staring into the darkness, woken from my dreams by _something_. I didn't know what, so I remained motionless while I listened.

And then I heard it- a soft mumbling coming from the other end of the couch. I straightened myself and tried as hard as I could to see in the dim light of the muted TV. There, curled up on the other end, was Jasper. Mentally I laughed at the fact that two nights in a row we had fallen asleep on a couch. He began to mumble again and I strained myself to hear what he was saying. After a few minutes I gave up and stumbled into a standing position. The television was playing an infomercial for something called a 'GyroBall'. I watched in amusement at people throwing a bowl around, marveling in the fact that the contents remained in the bowl.

"Huh," I mused. I shook my head and walked to stand next to Jasper. He was lying on his side, facing the back of the couch. His arms were curled under his head, creating a makeshift pillow. His long legs were bent at the knees and hanging half off of the cushions. He had discarded his vest earlier, and I was somewhat pleased to see that his shirt was slightly raised on his body. A patch of skin was visible, pleading to be touched. I closed my eyes and sighed. I was begging for trouble, constantly putting myself in situations where my 'womanly urges' came into play. Why was I doing this to myself? I would- _should_- be able to ignore it all together, but whenever Jasper did something I found adorable, I found my vision clouded with uncertainty.

"Jasper," I whispered. I had to wake him up and send him home. "Jasper, wake up." I looked at the clock on the wall and gaped when I saw that it was midnight. How the hell did it get to be so late? My eyes darted around the room and I saw that my mothers coat was hanging on the coat rack by the door. When did she get home? Why hadn't she woken us up? I walked to the door and glanced outside, confirming that my mother's car was parked behind Jasper's truck, but the police cruiser was missing. I guess my dad had to work late.

"Jasper!" I called louder this time. He stirred, but only curled into a tighter ball. I shrugged and reached out for him, making the decision to let him sleep. I patted down his pocket, looking for his cell phone. When I found it in the first pocket, I breathed a sigh of relief and pulled it out. He had two missed calls from his mother and winced apologetically at the electronic screen. It was too late to call, but a text would suffice. Opening a new window, I sent his mother a quick text:

_Hey it's Bella. J is asleep on my couch and won't wake up. I'll have him come home first thing in the morning. Sorry! _

Locking his phone, I pocketed it and eyed Jasper for a minute. Would he be more comfortable on the couch, or should I bring him upstairs to sleep on my bed? I immediately shot down the last possibility, knowing that if my dad came home and found Jasper in bed with me, his gun would not just be something for show.

Just then my phone rang, and I jumped in surprise. Grabbing it, I smiled when I saw that it was Edward.

"Hello?" I whispered. There was a little bit of static, but when I heard his voice, I was in heaven.

"Bella? Sweetie, are you okay?" I plopped down in the recliner to the left of the sofa and closed my eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little clumsy. How's your trip? How are you? I miss you!" I could hear Edward sigh.

"I miss you, too, love. I wish the trip wasn't three freaking weeks long." I heard some noise in the background and some muffled voices. "Alice says hello, and to tell you to call her tomorrow. Apparently she tried to call Jasper earlier but he wasn't answering his phone." Edward laughed and I looked over at the sleeping figure.

"I'll tell Jasper tomorrow to call her back. I'd tell him now but he's asleep."

Pause.

"What do you mean, 'he's asleep'?" I looked at the couch again and then back at the television. Did I make a mistake telling Edward that I was around Jasper while he slept?

"Jasper and I hung out tonight," I explained calmly. "He and I both fell asleep on the couch. I actually just woke up, and I'm headed upstairs while I let him sleep on the couch." Silence. I sighed and stood, making my way towards the front door. Opening it, I stepped out into the brisk air so I could speak louder.

"What, Edward?"

"I just didn't think you guys were going to be _that_ close while we were gone." I pulled the phone away from my ear for a second while I stared into the night incredulously. My temper suddenly flared, but I took deep breaths trying to stay somewhat calm.

"Edward, you and Alice were the ones that wanted Jasper and I to spend time with one another while you were gone. So, we are. And we are having a _great_ time! We were watching a movie tonight and we both fell asleep, what do you want me to say? Would you rather me ignore him for the rest of the time and be miserable? Huh?" I could sense my voice rising in the air, and bit back the need to shout. Any raised voices in this neighborhood at this time of night would have, well, my dad called.

Edward groaned and I could hear a door close.

"No, Bella, that's not what I want. Just forget I said anything." His voice was clipped, and I sensed that this was not actually the end of the conversation.

"I have to go," I muttered.

"Really? Or do you just not want to talk?" Edward's question was right on the money, and I chose the honest route at the moment.

"I don't want to talk to you. Get your head out of your ass and call me tomorrow," I said. "I love you, enjoy your vacation." Edward sighed and I could almost see him nodding.

"Okay, Bella. I love you. I'm sorry, and I promise tomorrow I will completely enema free." I laughed and smiled, knowing that I was just tired. No need to pick a fight with the boyfriend that was a million miles away.

"Good night," I whispered, and hung up the phone. I stood on my front porch for a few more minutes, welcoming the silence. It was one thing that I praised my dad for- choosing a town to relocate us to that was indeed worthy of creating a quiet life in.

I turned around and headed back in the house, and right over to the sleeping Jasper. I reached down and smoothed out a few unruly curls, smiling when his face calmed even further. Grabbing the notebook he and I had used to plan the party, I scribbled a quick note on it:

_J- Went upstairs to sleep. You're hard to wake up! I texted your mom, so go back to bed and I'll see you in the morning.- B_

_Dad- Don't shoot Jasper. He passed out. Love you!_

I turned off the television, sending the room into complete darkness. Climbing the stairs, I pushed my way into my room and changed into a pair of boy short underwear and a tank top. Climbing under the covers, I groaned as my limbs stretched out. I loved the feeling of cold sheets when I went to bed.

I lay in the dark for several minutes, letting the darkness lull me to sleep. But right before I welcomed Mr. Sandman, my bedroom door opened and closed. My eyes opened wide and watched as Jasper kicked off his socks and rubbed his hand over his face. There was a loud knocking sound in the room, and it didn't take long for me to identify it as my heartbeat. Jasper then pulled off his shirt, and I bit back a gasp at the sight of him half clothed. He walked over to my drawers and opened one, pulling out a random t-shirt and pulling it on. I recognized it as one of Charlie's police shirts and felt a heat burn through me. Jasper looked good. He then reached down and unbuttoned his pants, pulling them off to reveal his boxers. I tried not to stare, really I did. But as he walked over to my bed and pulled back the comforter to climb in, I swore my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head.

He shimmied down the length of the bed and made sure the sheets were covering both of us before he lay his head down on my pillow, not three inches away from me. His blue eyes looked at me in the darkness and he smiled.

"You left me out there, B. Not cool." His voice was quiet and somehow seemed to belong in the room.

"Sorry," I whispered. Jasper just sighed and put his arm around my waist, pulling me into him. I found myself surrounded in a Jasper cage, eyes still open wide. I could feel him press his nose into my hair, careful not to touch my stitches, and inhale. My fingers twitched and I moved my left hand up to his chest, grasping the fabric of the shirt lightly. I could feel his hard muscles beneath and closed my eyes, biting my bottom lip. I was no longer tired, all thoughts of sleep _gone_. He moved his legs forward a bit and I felt his feet nudge my own. I glanced up, hoping that he wouldn't see the panic and confusion in my eyes.

"Your heart is beating so fast," he muttered. I ignored the statement and let my eyes roam over his face. I had never been this close to him before while we were _conscious_, and I took the opportunity to memorize his features in the moonlight. Every laugh line, every crease in his skin became a memory, burned into my mind as the seconds passed.

Jasper watched as I let my eyes wander, his own eyes shinning curiously at me. I leaned into him slightly, and felt my eyes flutter when I felt him fully pressed against me. I had a flashback of not twenty four hours ago, his hands on my hips as he ground into me. A soft moan escaped my lips and I closed my eyes in shame.

And just like that morning, Jasper's right hand traveled down my waist and hovered on my hip bone.

"Bella?" His voice caressed me, and I held my breath in fear that I would moan again. Jasper's fingers tightened on my hip and he moved slightly, pressing back.

"Oh God." I opened my eyes and saw that Jasper was looking at me with his eyes wide. "This morning?" I nodded and let a shaky breath out.

"You were dreaming?" I whispered. "We both were? I don't know. But… yeah." We were both motionless for a solid minute while he comprehended what he had just realized. I knew the exact moment his mind made a semblance of a decision, because I felt his fingers tighten again and he pushed his hips forward to meet mine. My eyes closed again and I let a moan loose, slightly louder this time.

"You feel fucking fabulous," Jasper said. I wrapped my fingers into the shirt and pulled him close, wanting to feel him completely against me. His hand traveled down and grasped my bare thigh, not pausing as he pulled my leg up over his hip. I felt his hardness pressed into me and I threw my head back slightly as I held back on groaning with pleasure.

"Bella, just for tonight," Jasper whispered. I looked back at him and saw what I needed to see. He wanted this, but we both knew it couldn't go further. "Just tonight, Bella." He rocked his hips into me, rubbing me in all the right places.

I was nodding before I had a chance to think too much, but I pressed my hand against his chest to stop for a second.

"I can't… you know. I can't. I'm still a… I can't." Jasper nodded and pressed his forehead against mine, careful not to touch my wound.

"Me too, Bella. So am I, and I understand. Just… but just tonight." We were both nodding, and I could barely wrap my mind around what we had just agreed on before Jasper's lips were on my own. His mouth was hot, pressing gently on my own as he continued to move with me. I opened my lips carefully, and Jasper's tongue slid through the opening with ease. The soft caresses sent me into oblivion, and I made sure to breathe through my nose so I didn't have to pull away. Kiss after kiss, groan after groan. I loved the way he kissed… he would press his mouth to mine deeply, letting his lips and tongue have dominance over mine. And then he would pull away slightly and let his tongue trace patterns all over my own tongue and over my lips. After a few seconds of that, he would repeat. It was magical, perfect.

Tonight, just for tonight.

Jasper moved us then, pushing me into the mattress as he hovered over me. I felt so exposed as the blankets fell away to reveal my night outfit. I moved to cover where my shirt had moved up, but Jasper reached down and swatted my hands away.

"No, don't." His voice was husky, low and inviting. I stared up at him as he placed his knee between my legs and pushed them open. I moved willingly, allowing him to lower himself down to where his chest pressed into mine. His lips found mine again, his kisses deepening as they became languid. His left hand moved to cup the back of my neck, moving me closer if at all possible. His right hand slid under my top, his thumb making circles on my skin. I was on fire, every bit of me begging for some sort of release.

"You're so beautiful," Jasper whispered to me, his fingers reaching up to slide along the underside of my breast. My breath caught in my throat and I opened my eyes to meet his. Those blue pools were searching my very soul, begging to connect to me. I arched my back, and with that movement his fingers moved and brushed against my nipple. I opened my mouth to cry out in pleasure, but was silenced by his lips on mine.

"What can I do?" I whispered into his mouth. I had to know the boundaries that we were setting for that night. I had to know what he would let me do, or what I was allowing him to do to _me_. His eyebrows rose, and the movement of his hips on mine slowed slightly.

"What?" I swallowed and brought forth courage that I didn't know I had.

"What are the boundaries? No sex, but just kissing? What exactly?" The words were rushed, and Jasper smiled. His hips thrust forward and I cried out when I felt him through the thin cotton that separated us.

"You have to be quiet," Jasper whispered into my ear, sending chills down my spine. "You don't want your mom walking in." I nodded and tried to calm myself. Jasper placed one arm on each side of my head and lifted his weight off of me.

"Boundaries, huh?" I nodded, hoping that he wasn't double guessing his decision. As wrong as I knew all of this was, I had to have him. I had to be near him, to feel him. _Even for just this one night_.

"Touching, of course," he whispered, brushing his fingers along my face gently. "Kissing. Lots of kissing. Are you keen with keeping all of your clothes on?" I shook my head slowly. "Okay, no, that won't be necessary. No sex… but how far are you comfortable going, Bella?" My breath caught in my throat and I searched his face. I didn't know an actual answer to that. I was a virgin, and Edward wouldn't go too far with me. I was pretty much brand new at all of it. I suddenly felt inadequate.

"Anything but sex," I whispered. Jasper's eyes popped open and he grinned.

"As you wish," he responded. And as if he had done it to me a million times, he leaned down and captured my lips in his own once again. His tongue played with mine for a minute and then he moved his way down my jaw and to my neck. I closed my eyes as I tilted my head so he could have better access. He nibbled and suckled along my skin, creating a path down to my collar bone.

"You feel so good," I muttered to myself. I could feel Jasper shake with silent laughter, and I knew he heard me. He paused when he reached the swell of my breast and looked back up at me.

"No sex, but you're mine otherwise." It wasn't a question, but a statement. My heart soared and I nodded. And just like that, Jasper lifted my tank top up and over my head and threw it on the floor. I had no bra on, and I felt goose bumps prick over every inch of my naked torso. Jasper didn't hesitate before he latched his mouth to my breast, sucking my entire nipple in his mouth. I arched into his touch and found my hands in his hair, tugging for him to get closer. His tongue flicked out and traced patterns on my skin, his teeth grazing along the tip. He moved to give my other breast the same attention before he moved south. His tongue slid down my skin, leaving a wet trail. His hands cupped my breasts, kneading them as me gave attention to my lower extremities.

"Please," I found myself whispering. Jasper didn't even question what I meant, and he was moving his left hand from my chest to my shorts, fingering the seam delicately. I watched as he stared at my clothed center, almost like he was working up the courage to go where no man had gone before. His eyes darted up to mine for a second and I gasped at how dark they were. That gave him all the courage he needed as moved the crotch part of the shorts, running his nose along my sex.

I closed my eyes as I breathed out, trying to concentrate on the new feeling. I gripped Jasper's hair harder, wanting badly to push him closer. I didn't open my eyes until I felt Jasper shift and bring both of his hands to my hips. He rubbed his nose along the inside of my thighs and breathed out, sending cool air over my bottom half.

"Jasper," I whispered. He began laying kisses along my skin before he ran his tongue right along my slit. I arched into his mouth as I bit down on my bottom lip to keep quiet. It as a new feeling all together as Jasper moved his thumb to open my lips, licking along my folds slowly. When he hit my clit, he pushed his tongue down flat and moved it in small circles, alternating between licks and blows of cool air. His left hand gripped my hip tightly, holding me close to him. My fingers delved deeper in his hair, wishing I could have him even closer.

He was a master, his tongue moving along my nub so carefully. A warm feeling in the pit of my stomach began to grow into a fire, and I couldn't hold back the moan that pushed its way to the surface.

"Jas, what is that?" I whispered down to him. He paused only for a second so he could look up at me. His eyes trained on me as he continued to lick and suck on me.

"That," he breathed on me as he circled his tongue again and again, "is an orgasm." I threw my head back against my pillow, not able to keep eye contact with him. Just his stare alone was enough to send me into oblivion.

"You've never had one." Again, it wasn't a question, it was a statement. I shook my head regardless as the fire built even more, coiling within me as it begged for release. Jasper smiled against me as he sucked down hard on me, using his teeth to bite down on me. I felt the coil spring open within me as the fire erupted into flames. I arched back and opened my mouth to cry out, but Jasper leapt forward and covered his mouth with mine, using his fingers to keep ministrations going. I cried out into his mouth, grabbing onto his shoulders to pull him closer and closer. Finally, Jasper moved his hand and I managed to lay flat on the bed.

"Oh my God," I breathed. "That was, oh my God." Jasper laughed and pressed himself into me. My eyes opened again at the feeling of his length pressing against me. I moved my hips with him, trying to ignore the tingling sensations that still flew through me. I realized then that Jasper and I were grinding against each other in sync. All we needed to do was remove out clothes, and there would be nothing stopping us from having sex. But my shorts were in tact, and his boxers held him back as he ground into me.

"You feel so good, Bella. So warm." His length slid along me, pressing into me as his tongue and fingers had. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close to me, wrapping my legs around his hips. I was giving myself to him, letting him have complete control. Needless to say he took the control and went with it, because he began thrusting into me, groaning softly each time we met each other in the middle.

"I'm going to," he said into the crook of my neck. I moved harder with him, thrusting my center faster and faster. Because I could feel the tightening yet again.

"Wait for me," I whispered. Jasper seemed to understand, and he slowed slightly, matching me movement to movement. I gripped his shoulders when I felt the heat build again, and with that signal, Jasper pushed away from me and sat up, grabbing hold of my hips and lifting me slightly off the bed. I looked up at him, amazed by his masculinity, amazed at how sexy he was, how confident he was. His eyes met mine and we moved faster and faster still, our eyes never wavering.

And then we both let go, our eyes closing slightly, but never all the way. My orgasm overwhelmed me, and I heard Jasper grunt in relief. After a minute, he loosened his hold on my hips and fell down on top of me. He didn't let his full weight bear down on me, but I wrapped my arms around him to hold him closer.

"Amazing," he whispered into my ear. I nodded, afraid that my voice would be shaky.

Once our breathing evened out, Jasper rolled off of me and stood. He moved to strip himself of his boxers, and for a brief second I wondered why. And then I realized that he was probably _sticky_. I confidently stared at Jasper's bare ass as he balled up the boxers and set them on the floor. He then pulled on his pants, never turning to where I would be able to see the front of him. When he finally turned to me, I was already staring at the ceiling with a smile on my face. He climbed back into the bed and resumed the position we held when he first came into the room.

"Good night, darlin'," he whispered. I smiled and leaned in for one more kiss. His lips wouldn't let mine go for a moment, and when they did, he was smiling.

"Good night, J." I closed my eyes, letting Mr. Sandman take me away.

* * *

**Jasper's POV**

My first girlfriend was Molly Spindler in the third grade. 'Girlfriend' was just the term we kids used back then for someone we held hands with and shared our lunch with. Only when I entered eighth grade did I have my first _actual_ girlfriend, Morgan MacPherson. We kissed whenever we got the chance to, and went to the mall and to the local burger joint after school. When I met Alice Cullen, my world changed. I didn't just meet my girlfriend in Forks, but I met my kindred spirit. We got along in ways that I had never gotten along with someone before. She was my friend, she was other half.

With Alice came her brother Edward, and his girl Bella. We were the four weirdo's who stuck together wherever we want. The four weirdo's that everyone wanted to be friends with. I've heard people say on more than one occasion that they wised we would just _look_ at them. It was weird at first, but by the time Junior year of high school ended, I just didn't care. We were in the home stretch, one more base away from graduating and heading off to college.

Honestly? The day Alice and Edward went on vacation and left me and Bella to fend for ourselves, my life changed.

And here I was, laying in bed with Bella as she slept, wishing that 'tonight' was going to last a little bit longer.

We had agreed that what just happened would just the one night. Just this once. The moment we shared in her bed, the touches that were exchanged, the kisses and movements.

I closed my eyes, shutting off the world.

I had always thought Bella was beautiful. Always. Even from the moment that she and I ran into each other on my first day of school, I couldn't help but take a good long hard look at her. When I met Alice, though, I had pushed aside all feelings of lust towards Bella. And until this weekend, she and I had never been alone together. Alice and Edward were our 'buffers' as Bella had put it. She was right. Without them, I didn't have anything to grab my attention. And I was left staring at the beautiful woman before me.

The other night at my house was great, the two of us getting great one-on-one time and being ourselves. I realized she was more sarcastic and witty than I realized. She didn't really censor herself, which made her real. If someone said something to her that she didn't like, you knew it. Which is why at the hospital I laughed when the doctor ticked her off. I knew she was going to say something. I knew she wasn't going to let the flirting woman leave without a piece of her mind.

And that day, when I got to her house, she looked at me with a new emotion in her eyes that I had never seen before. When I walked into the front door with food, she all but drooled when her eyes raked over me. I watched as her eyes started from my hair all the way down to my shoes. When I drew her attention back to me, she blushed and ignored that it had happened. But with the sunglasses… and my decision to try and flirt with her… I proved a point when she closed her eyes and swallowed back any saliva that had pooled in her mouth. And when I licked my fingers clean when I was done cooking…

I was so confused. I didn't mean for tonight to happen the way that it did.

But when I remembered the dream that I had last night, and I remembered that I was awake for part of it… and that it was Bella who I had touched that way, well it awoke something in me that I thought I was able to keep hidden.

I opened my eyes and gazed at the sleeping figure next to me. My heart pinched slightly in pain at the thought of tomorrow. At the thought that I had to push all of this behind me. Would I be able to do it?

I heard my phone chirp in the darkness, and I reached into my pocket for the annoying electronic. Opening the new text, I saw that it was Alice. I felt guilt wash over me as I read her words: _I love you_. I turned my phone off and shoved it back into my pocket, wanting to be rid of all outside thoughts until morning. I turned back to Bella and sighed. Tonight, I had tonight. Tomorrow I would deal with the world.

I wrapped Bella closer to me, listening to her sigh with contentment. I closed my eyes and let sleep take over.

* * *

**PLEASE REVIEW! What did you think? Too much? LOL, hope not! Reviews are much appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again all! I'm happy to post this chapter- this chapter was my first thought when I started thinking of this story, so I've been imagining it for a while. It's not all lemony, but it's the turning point in U.A. I hope you enjoy!**

**D/C: I do not own Twilight, nor do I own any of the charachters portrayed in the book and/or movie.**

* * *

**Bella's POV**

My eyes fluttered open, gray light filtering in through the curtain. I yawned, stretching out my legs as far as they would go. But when my right foot brushed against something solid and warm, I froze. My eyes popped open wide, looking as far to the side as I could without actually moving. I could see a lump in the sheets, but that was all. I shifted slightly, but when the comforter fell away from me and I saw that I was completely naked from the waist up.

"Oh my God," I whispered. Everything from the night before came flashing back, and I felt tears spring to my eyes. The lump in the sheets was a sleeping Jasper. The memories flooded me- him touching me, the way I ground myself into him, the way he kissed me as if there were no tomorrow.

That's because there technically wasn't. _Just for tonight_. The words haunted me as I slipped out of bed and grabbed my tank top off of the floor. Pulling it over my head, I glanced at Jasper and froze. He was curled up on his side, the most peaceful look on his face as he slept. The sheets were low enough to where I could see the shape of his chest- the same chest that I had touched just hours before.

My face became hot, and I know that all of my blood had pooled there. I was ashamed of my actions, completely and utterly mortified that I had given in to temptation. It was one thing to ignore the feelings that had been appearing, and it was one thing to allow myself spare moments to indulge in those thoughts. But it was another thing all together to allow myself to kiss, to touch, to practically _fornicate_ with someone who was not my boyfriend.

Oh God. _Edward_.

I choked back a sob and left the room, closing the door tight behind me. The bathroom would be my place of solitude until I had to leave for work. Once I was behind the solid oak door, I tucked my body into the space between the toilet and the bathtub. I brought my knees up and wrapped my arms around them, shielding my face with my arms and hair. The sobs continued to come, continued to wrack through my body as I was plagued with memories of Jasper and I. We had both been so _sure_ of what we had done. Neither of us had any hesitations, no worries that we were destroying ourselves.

Would Alice and Edward find out? _I_ wouldn't tell them. I couldn't. My future flashed before my eyes- Edward and I graduating high school and running off to college. Him proposing with his grandmother's ring, at our favorite restaurant in Port Angeles. Us buying our first home and moving all of our stuff into it. Me getting pregnant and him holding my hand while I pushed our kid into the world.

"Oh God," I muttered. My world was officially different. It had changed, and for the better or worse I didn't know.

"Bella?" I jumped at the hushed voice on the other side of the door, the tears falling even faster now. Jasper knocked lightly and I opened my mouth to tell him to go away, but the words never came.

"Bella, I'm coming in." I said nothing as the doorknob turned and the door swung open. Through blurred vision I watched Jasper walk in, disheveled and no shirt. My traitorous heart jumped at the sight and I groaned as my head fell back into hiding. Through my arms I saw Jasper close the door and slide to the floor right in front of me. My eyes stared straight at his left calf as we remained silent. I didn't know what to say to him. I didn't know how to make the situation any easier. Was that even possible?

"It can't happen again." Jasper's rough voice infiltrated my thoughts and I dared to look up. His blue eyes looked sad, and radiated the importance of his statement.

"Just last night," I whispered. He nodded.

"For what it's worth," he began, but I held up a hand.

"You can't say it. Don't say what I think you're going to say, because that will make all the feelings all the more real. And they can't be real, because it didn't happen. Right? It didn't happen." I watched him, watched as his eyes softened. They showed… regret? I couldn't accept that emotion in him. But eventually he nodded.

"You're right. It never happened." The relief was overwhelming. We could get through this, we would be able to act like nothing happened, and no one would get hurt.

"Thank you," I said with a small smile. Jasper nodded again, not really returning the smile. I ignored it though and looked up at the small clock above the mirror.

"I have to be at work in forty five minutes," I said softly. He pushed himself to his feet without a word. Reaching down, he helped me up as well.

"Um, your cell phone is on my nightstand," I said awkwardly. Jasper pulled it out of his pocket and waved it at me before stuffing it back in.

"I grabbed it when I got to your room last night."

"Oh, okay." I shuffled my feet, looking anywhere but at Jasper.

"So… um…" Jasper interrupted me by quickly opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.

"I'm gonna go," he pointed towards the stairs. "I'll call you later."

"Yeah, see ya." Jasper closed the door and I heard him in my room, shuffling around before making his way down the stairs. As soon as I heard the muffled sound of the front door closing, I slammed my forehead against the closed door.

"Wonderful."

I took a quick shower and changed for work, grabbing plenty of food and snacks to last me through the day. I knew I would be allowed to leave the shop for lunch, but there was no point when I could just curl up with a book. No need to step out into the world and get me into any more trouble than I already was. On my way to the shop my cell phone rang.

"Yeah," I answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Bella!" I grinned automatically, Jessica's voice sounding like fucking angels singing to my ears.

"Jessica! Hola, chica. To what do I owe this early morning convo to?" It was honestly nice to hear from her- there as no way I would be able to survive with just me and Jasper for the next three weeks.

"Sorry for calling so early," Jessica said cheerfully, "but I knew you'd be up. Our hard working girl and all. I'm having another movie night tonight, and I wanted to know if you wanted to join. Jason Statham is screaming our names, and my brand new bootleg copy of 'The Mechanic' apparently has scenes of him with his shirt off. Completely O-worthy." I laughed freely, loving the sound of a girls' night.

"I'm in. You have _no idea_ how much I'm in," I said as I pulled into the parking lot, right next to Emmett's Jeep. "I get off at five, so I can be there by six?"

"That sounds perfect," Jessica sang. I could hear her starting her car on her end, so I took that as my cue to end the call.

"I'm gone, work calls. I'll see you at six." I hung up and climbed out of my car. Suddenly my day was looking up.

* * *

I fell down in my chair at lunch time, already exhausted. I had spent the past two hours checking in a shipment of oil and windshield wipers, as well as parts for a Corvette for some guy in Port Angeles. But overall I was happy because my mind was not jumping to thoughts of Jasper or of how fucked up my night was. I was concentrating on a thoughtless project.

I sat at my desk and pulled out my lunch, looking at the BLT with disdain. That and my yogurt looked unappetizing compared to the cheeseburger that was in my brain. _It'll have to do_. I devoured my sandwich and took out the paperback that I had stuffed into my bag on my way out that morning.

Just then Emmett stuck his head in the door separating the shop from the garage.

"You're not leaving for lunch?" I shook my head, lifting my book up to show him.

"Nope. I have soft porn disguised as actual literature and you to stare at to bring my fantasies to life." I winked as Emmett laughed. He closed the door behind him and sat on the edge of my desk, glancing at the shop.

"It looks good in here. Rose was right; we were smart to hire you." I beamed at the compliment.

"Thank you, I'm glad you hired me too. I love it here." Emmett nodded and sighed.

"How's the uh…" he pointed to my head, and my hand flew up to touch the stitches. They felt rough and just the feel of them made me feel a bit queasy; I'd have to remember to put a band-aid on it to hide it.

"It's okay. Still feel kind of stupid about the entire thing." Emmett laughed heartily and shook his head.

"Yeah, I'd feel stupid too."

"Hey!" I tried to act offended, but it didn't work, and I laughed right along with him.

"Sorry," he chuckled. "I just hope you're not a klutz like this all the time. Last thing I need you to do is slip and slam your head on one of the lifts."

"Don't worry," I sighed, "I'm usually okay. It's only when I have to put one foot in front of the other that I have actual problems." Emmett kept laughing, and I tried to feign innocence.

"Okay, so here's the deal," Emmett finally said. Deal? There's a deal? I sat up straighter and suddenly felt nervous. "Don't look so scared, Bella. You're fine. Rose and I have to run into Port Angeles in about half an hour. The Corvette guy wants to discuss a new project. I guess he has another car that he wants to rebuild, and he only wants us." I could hear a sense of pride in his tone, and I generally felt happy for them.

"That's great! Did you need to shut down for the rest of the day or something?" Part of me was a little let down at going home early. I didn't know what I would do for the rest of the day.

"No, no." Emmett stood and waved his hand at me, shaking his head. "I was actually going to see if you would be okay the rest of the day. We would just need you to answer phones. Pretty much laid back day."

"Yeah, absolutely!" Emmett patted me on the back and walked back towards the garage.

"We're heading out in a little bit. Enjoy the rest of your lunch." I was on cloud nine for the rest of my off time, not able to concentrate on my book. I had free reign of the shop for the rest of the day! As I tucked my unread book back into my bag, the door opened again. Rosalie and Emmett walked in, dressed in business attire. I let out a low whistle, taking in their appearance.

"You two look fantastic!" Emmett had traded in his greasy work pants and short sleeved striped shirt for black slacks and a white button down shirt and tie. Rosalie had traded in her similar work outfit for a blue blazer and chinos. Rosalie even did a little pirouette, laughing as Emmett planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you, Bella," Rosalie said. She stepped forward and set a key on the desk. "Here's the key to the shop. You'll have to close down and lock up. Just remember to lock each of the bay doors from the inside. The padlocks are all hanging to the right of the tool bench. I think that's it." I nodded, eyeing the key as if it were a piece of treasure. They were trusting me with their shop, and the feeling of responsibility was phenomenal.

"Okay," I said confidently. Rose watched me for a second before she nodded.

"I'm putting a lot of trust in you Bella. But I see something in you. Something that tells me you won't burn my shop down."

"That and the fact that I'm the police Chief's daughter. There's an underlying responsibility on my part to not break the law." They laughed, and all I could think of was '_Where's the joke?'_

"We're off! Call us if there are any problems." I waved as they left the shop, watching as they climbed into Rosalie's Mustang. I waited as they backed out of their parking spot, and waited until they drove down the street. The second they were out of sight, I jumped up and cheered. I was in _charge_ for the next four and a half hours.

"I'm Bella, I'm in charge here," I muttered. I looked around and wondered what to do with myself for the rest of the day. And then the teenager in me came alive, and I dove back into my desk chair. Picking up my cell phone, I called Edward. I hadn't spoken to him since the night before, and he and I had a lot to talk about. The phone rang, my foot tapping impatiently as I waited.

"Hello?" I jumped and smiled.

"Hey, it's me."

"Bella." Edward whispered my name, and I could tell that he was happy to hear from me. "I'm sorry about last night."

"Me too." And I was, on so many levels. I listened as Edward groaned, and looking at the clock, I wondered what time it was in Jamaica.

"Did I wake you? I can call you later." But Edward interrupted me.

"No, no. I was just taking a nap. I'm glad you called." There was an awkward silence as I waited for him to talk. I could hear his breathing, and I closed my eyes to imagine what he looked like at that very moment. I missed his eyes, I missed the way he smiled at me. I missed the way he held me and told me I was beautiful. I missed the way he didn't pressure me for anything, the way he loved me.

"I miss you," I said softly, and I could hear the sadness in my voice. Edward sighed.

"I miss you so much, Bella." The sadness in his voice almost matched mine. "I didn't mean to be an ass last night, to question you or the time that you're spending with Jasper." My heart literally stopped, my eyes opening wide. Images of Jasper above me flashed in my mind, images of pools of blue staring into my eyes, telling me how beautiful I was. Telling me how good I made him feel. _Oh God._

"It's okay," I whispered. I had to be okay with it.

"Are you sure? Because I was a dick, and I know Alice and I were kinda pushy with the two of you. We just didn't want either of you to be lonely for the next three weeks."

"Yeah, I understand. Don't worry about it. Jasper and I are fine, just hanging out."

"Good. Good." He seemed relieved, but I was horrified. I had just lied to Edward. For the very first time since the day I had met him, I lied. Tears sprang to my eyes as he continued.

"So what have you been up to? How's the head trauma?" I swallowed and took a deep breath.

"Well, yesterday was a little painful, but it's better today. I can hardly feel the stitches anymore. But I think I need to carry around a picket sign telling people to take a picture, because the staring is getting a bit much."

"There's my girl," Edward laughed. "I miss your humor."

"I'll put it in a box for you and send it priority." I leaned back in my chair and put my feet up on the desk, pushing all thoughts of Jasper out of my head.

"You at work?" I noticed that Edward's voice was thick with sleep, but I was too greedy to let him go.

"Yeah, I kicked the owners out and I am sitting at my desk with my feet up. I've recruited one of the neighborhood boys to bring me fruity drinks with bright colored umbrellas." It felt good to be 'sarcastic and witty' again. That was the kind of person I was, and when I was torn up with guilt the person that I am disappears.

"I wish I was there with you," Edward whispered. I closed my eyes, imagining his face.

"You are, Edward. I can see your face in my mind, and you are right here with me." The bell above the door rang, and I jumped up, my eyes flying open.

"Shit, I gotta go." Looking at the door, I watched as one of my dad's deputies walked through the door. I couldn't remember his name for the life of me. "I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, I love you." I hung up with Edward and smoothed out my hair as the deputy walked towards me, a smile on his face.

"Ah, Bella! How are you?" I smiled and let my eyes dart to his name tag, and with a sense of relief I remembered who he was.

"Deputy Barron, I'm good. It's good to see you. What do I owe the pleasure?" He took off his cowboy stylish police hat and ran his hand through graying black hair.

"I actually need an oil change on the cruiser. I was supposed to get it done last week, but to be honest, I forgot. Don't want to get in trouble with your dad." I laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, I get it. But Rose and Emmett aren't here. They won't be back tomorrow." Barron looked defeated and looked out over the garage. "Sorry. I wish I could do it for you, but-"

"Can you?" I was caught off guard by the question and looked at him like he had two heads. Yes, I could, but I was seventeen. Did he really trust me to change the oil on a police car? I sure as hell wouldn't trust me to do it.

"Um, I know how and all. But I just do office work here. I don't think they would appreciate it if I started working on cars without their permission." He looked around again and shrugged.

"Can you call and get the okay?" I was baffled, to be honest. He sure as hell was pushy.

"I guess I can try and call," I muttered. I picked up the office phone and dialed Emmett's cell phone, eyeing Barron the whole time. It only rang twice before Emmett picked up.

"Please don't tell me that you tripped over a tool and slammed into the lift. Or set the place on fire. Or knocked over all the shelves." I smiled, shaking my head at Emmett's craziness.

"No, no. Nothing like that at all." I looked at Barron one more time before I took a deep breath. "Um, there's one of the deputies here, and he needs an oil change. He wanted me to call you to see if it would be okay if I did the oil change for him. He can't wait until tomorrow."

"Seriously?" Emmett seemed as baffled as me, and I was thankful that I wasn't the only one who saw the incredulity in this situation.

"Yeah."

"Hold on, Bella." I listened as he moved the phone away from his head and he spoke with who I assumed to be Rose. He spoke, and her voice raised in return. I winced, not wanting to cause any trouble. I glanced at Barron again, wanting badly to yell at him for the trouble he was causing. The last thing I wanted to do was push my luck with my new bosses. I tapped my foot quietly while I waited for Emmett and Rosalie to finish their conversation. Finally he returned and I could hear the annoyance in his voice.

"Bella, I can imagine you've already told the guy that there's no actual mechanic there. And because of that I wish I was there so I could smack the guy upside the head. But because he's a cop and all, go ahead and do it. But charge him more than we normally would."

"How much more?" I asked, glancing at Barron when he looked at me.

"That's the beauty of not having a charge board up behind your pretty little desk. You can charge him whatever the hell you want him to. And you can keep the difference. So charge him at least twenty more. The twenty can buy you and your friends pizza or something." I grinned and laughed.

"Absolutely! Okay, I'll let you know later how it went. Thanks, Em." We hung up and I turned back to Barron.

"They said okay. But it's going to be fifty for the oil change." I waited, wondering if doubling the price was a smart move on my part. Deputy Barron eyed me only for a second before nodding.

"Okay, that works." I sighed with relief. He reached out to hand me the keys to his car, and jerked his head towards the door. "I'm going to head out for about an hour. Does that work? I'm going to get lunch at the diner down the road. I'll be back then." I watched as he left the building, and only then did I jump and do a little jig in place.

"Boo ya motha fucka's!" I whispered with a Jamaican accent. I skipped out the door after him and went right for the police car. I maneuvered it into one of the bays and onto the lift. Once I knew I had it right, I jumped out and stared at the controls, trying to remember which button was 'up'. Shrugging, I chose a button and pressed. I smiled when the car moved upwards, releasing the button when it was high enough for me to walk under.

I worked quickly to gather what I needed, pleased that I looked like I knew what I was doing. I shrugged off my jacket and tossed it on one of the workbenches, glancing down at my black shirt and blue jeans. Hopefully I wouldn't get too much crap on me to where I would need to go home before going to Jessica's.

I went to work on the car, removing the filter quickly and bringing over the oil can and extending the neck so it was right under the drain plug. Releasing the oil, I watched as it spilled into the funnel, disappearing into the can.

"Easy as pie," I whispered to myself.

"Bella?" I jumped at the voice and my head hit the underside of the car.

"Fuck!" I screamed. My hand flew to my head, just an inch to the left of my sutured wound. I felt hands pull me out from under the car and brush along my hairline. My eyes opened in shock and I was thoroughly surprised to see Jasper standing before me, examining my head.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I exclaimed. Jasper froze and his face became a mask of hurt. He stepped back and looked down at the ground.

"Um, sorry. I'll go." I shook my head immediately.

"No, no. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." I sighed and pressed my hand against my head again. "Just, please tell me that I'm not bleeding. If I have another cut and have to get more stitches I'm going to look like Frankenstein!" Jasper cracked a smile and shook his head.

"No, you didn't cut yourself again. You look great." I looked at my hand, relieved that there was, indeed, no blood.

"Oh thank God. Em and Rose would never have trusted me again if I got hurt." Jasper glanced around the shop, and I shamelessly let my eyes rake over him. He was wearing all black with a red jacket, with a white baseball hat covering his hair.

"Why are you doing an oil change?" he asked. I shrugged, looking at my hand once more before leaving my bruised forehead alone.

"Emmett and Rose are out for the rest of the day, and someone came in with mechanical needs. Enter, me." He smiled and eyed the oil that was now dripping into the pan. "What are you doing here? And I mean this in a friendly way of course, don't be offended." Jasper leaned against one of the lift bars and let his eyes rake over me just as mine had his. I shuffled nervously, wondering what exactly was going on in his mind.

"I came to see how you were." Those simple words hit me, and my mind began to spin.

"How I am?" I muttered. He nodded, his eyes never wavering. I was fine. Wasn't I? I was just peachy. Nothing wrong at all. No thoughts that ran in dangerous territory, nothing that would get me in trouble. Right?

"I'm fine." It was a lie. I wasn't fine. Because at that very moment, my brain and body were betraying me. I was imagining what he felt like, what his hair felt like at that very moment. What he would feel like if I pressed myself against him. What did it mean? Did that mean that I _liked him_ liked him?

"Fine." He didn't believe me. His eyes were laughing at me.

"Yeah. Fine." Jasper pushed away from his spot against the beam and took a step towards me. My nerves were pulsating as he walked even closer still. Only when he was two feet away did I actually feel my body arch forward. I closed my eyes in defeat. Stupid fucking body.

"I'm fine," I whispered. Something brushed against my hairline, and I jumped back, knowing that it was Jasper's hand. My ankle hit a solid object, and like a nightmare, I was falling. Jasper leapt forward and wrapped his arms around my torso as we both toppled to the ground.

"Shit!" Jasper hissed as he tried to cushion me from the fall. But I winced as my back hit the ground, and my head hit the edge of the tool box. I groaned in pain and my hand flew up to press against my temple.

"Seriously?" I asked into the air. I opened my eyes and gasped through the pain. Jasper was literally lying on top of me, his arms pressing into my back to keep me as close as possible. His legs were flush against mine, hips to hips, and chest to chest. I could feel his breath against my face as his eyes scanned over me.

"Are you okay?" he muttered. I nodded, pushing slightly on him. I had to get him off of me before I did something I would regret. I pushed again, but Jasper didn't budge.

"Jasper why are you doing this?" I asked softly. "Why? I caved into my feelings last night, but I can't do it again. I can't. It was last night, and we agreed before we did anything that it would be _just last night_. But now it's today, and all I want to do is kiss you. But I can't. I can't do it Jasper. It's wrong." I bit my lips, not believing I just said what I said an inch away from his face. Jasper's eyes were wide.

"Bella?" I closed my eyes again, and I could feel the tears streak down the corners and into my hair.

"I like you, Jasper." I gasped at my admission. Our eyes met and a sob escaped from my chest. "I like you. But I can't do anything because I can't hurt Edward. And you can't hurt Alice. And when they come back, things have to be okay." He looked down at me and a smile flittered across his mouth.

"I like you, Bella. And everything will be fine." I watched as he closed the one inch gap and pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was soft and warm, his tongue only darting out to touch me just once. He pulled back and pushed himself up, holding his hand out to help me to my feet. I stared at that hand in shock, not believing what just happened. Carefully, I accepted his hand and let him pull me to my feet. I stepped back almost immediately, looking around as if I was expecting someone to be watching.

"I'll see you later," Jasper said, backing out of the garage and into the parking lot. I stood there, like an absolute idiot, my lips still tingling.

* * *

Work was over, I had an extra twenty five dollars in my pocket, and I felt like a dirty whore.

I sat in my car, the engine running, while I worked up enough energy to head to Jessica's house. She had texted me an hour ago to make sure I was still coming, and I was actually hesitant on going. I wanted to go home instead, and curl up in a ball in my room, and think about the kiss between me and Jasper over and over again.

'_I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth!'_

I burst out laughing as my phone began ringing, the image of Jasper dancing infiltrating my head. I glanced down at my phone and sighed, pressing 'Ignore'. I couldn't talk to him now. I had to go to Jessica's. I threw my car in reverse and made my way down the road, barely paying attention as I made my way to my girls night. I needed a night away from Jasper. I needed to collect my thoughts and make a plan on how to handle the next three weeks. I needed to keep my mind together until Edward came back.

I pulled up to Jessica's house and glanced down at my clothes as I climbed out of the car. I had streaks of grease and oil on me, which would not be well received by a bunch of girls who had never seen the underside of a car in their lives. I reached in the backseat and grabbed my bag that held extra clothes, wondering exactly what outfit I had put in there last month when I packed it. I didn't even have to knock on the door, and Jessica was standing in the doorway with a large grin on her face.

"Bella!" I was pulled into a hug one second and then pushed away the next. "Ew. You smell like a garage."

"Aw, Jessica. Such compliments. And just as an FYI, I _work_ in a garage." She ushered me inside and I headed right for the bathroom to change. Five minutes later I was dressed head to toe in black, laughing at how I looked like Jasper had earlier. All I needed was a red jacket. Opening the door, I turned to ask Jessica who else was coming, and I froze.

Jessica was sitting in her living room, right next to Tyler, and right across from Jasper.

"Fuck," I whispered. All eyes turned to look at me and Jessica jumped up.

"Yea! Bella's grease free and back to the world of normal smelling people. Welcome back, Bella." I glared at her and grasped her arm, pulling her through the hall and to the kitchen. When I knew we were out of ear shot, I turned to her and sent all my anxiety to her through my eyes.

"What the _hell_ happened to girls night?" I spat. She arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow and cocked a hip.

"I never said anything about a girls night. I said 'movie' night." All my hatred and anxiety drained away and my knees bent slightly in defeat.

"Jess!" I whined. She mimicked my stature and voice.

"Bell!" I pushed her shoulder and leaned against the countertop.

"I just didn't know there was going to be anyone else here. I thought it was going to be a girls night. I wasn't prepared." Jessica leaned next to me and nudged my arm.

"Prepared for what? It's just Tyler and Jasper. And I know you don't have a problem with Tyler, so what's with the beef with Jasper?" My eyes closed, silently cursing myself for the unintentional slip.

"I don't have beef with Jasper," I whispered. "It's just… it's just… I don't know. We're like glued at the hip, and Edward and Alice expect us to spend every waking moment together, and I just thought that tonight was a girls night and I wouldn't be glued to his hip." Jess nodded and reached over to pick up an apple. Spinning it in her hand, she looked at stem as if it were the most interesting thing in the entire world.

"Bella, can I be frank?" I sighed, glancing at her from the corner of my eye.

"You can be Jessica. I don't know Frank." We laughed and Jessica set the apple down in front of us on the island counter. She sighed and looked at me as if she were going to tell me how to get to the lost city of Atlantis.

"I know there's something going on between you and Jasper." Yep. My heart stopped, and I was pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. Drool was exposed, and if you looked far enough in my mouth you could see that little dangling thing that disappeared when you yawned.

"No!" I practically yelled. I cleared my throat and lowered my voice. "No, I don't know what you're talking about. There's nothing going on between us. We're friends. What makes you think there's something going on? Did you say something to Jasper? To Tyler? There's nothing going on-" Jessica cut me off by moving in front of me and pressing her hand over my mouth.

"Bella, you need to breathe. Breathe and let me explain before you have a panic attack in my kitchen." I took a deep breath through my nose and nodded. She removed her hand and smiled.

"I didn't say anything to anyone, Bella. So don't have a coronary whatever. I'm just brilliantly observant." I groaned and tilted my head back, hitting it on the cabinet.

"Oh my God, I swear that if I hit my head one more time I'm going to end up brain dead." Jessica reached up to rub my head for just a second before picking the apple back up.

"When I called Jasper to invite him over tonight, he immediately asked me if you were coming. When I said that you were, he got really quiet. I asked him what was wrong, but he just continued to sound like he had a shit eating grin on his face. And with you looking like you saw a damned ghost when your eyes landed on him, well I put two and two together."

"Fuck." My new word of the day. Jessica pulled my head down to lay on her shoulder.

"I won't say anything. But… how long?"

"Since last night." Jessica pulled away from me and I almost fell to the ground.

"Last night?" She seemed thoroughly surprised. "Last night? You guys make it seem like you've been sleeping together for weeks." My mind went into overdrive.

"We haven't slept together," I assured her anxiously. "We just did some heavy duty action that did not involve sex. We told each other it was just last night, and then he shows up at my work and kisses me. Jess! I don't know what to do!" I leaned my head back down on her shoulder, part of me relieved that someone knew about it. That someone knew what Jasper and I had been doing.

"I cheated on Tyler six months ago," Jessica whispered. My head shot up and my eyes popped open yet again.

"You what? With who?" Jessica peered towards the living room, and when she was pleased that no one would be able to hear us, she looked back at me.

"Yeah. With Mike." I wanted to vomit.

"Newton?"

"Yeah, don't remind me." Jessica hopped up on the counter, letting her legs hang free. I followed suit and nudged her to continue.

"He and I had a relationship for about two months. He was dating Lauren, and I was dating Tyler. But we had a thing on the side. I'm not proud of it, but my hormones and my feelings got the best of me."

"Did you plan on the relationship lasting that long?" I asked. Jessica shook her head just once.

"Not at first. It kind of started off like you and Jasper. It happened and I told him that it would just be that one night. Then it happened again. And again. And then he said that it would be just until Thanksgiving. We'd have a clean break just in time for the holidays." Jessica stopped and licked her lips. She looked so sad.

"What happened?" I whispered.

"The day after Thanksgiving he showed up at my door and told me that he couldn't stop thinking about me. So then we agreed to let it happen until Christmas. Then it would end. And it did. Christmas Eve we were together one last time, and we broke it off." She wiped a single tear from her cheek and dropped her voice even lower.

"I liked him, I really did. But I liked Tyler even more. My point? It took my time with Mike to appreciate Tyler. I don't regret Mike. I never did."

"So you're telling me to have fun?" I laughed, not understanding exactly what her story was supposed to teach me. Jessica laughed though, and shook her head.

"No, not exactly. I'm telling you that to get where you need to get, sometimes you have to take a different path. And if you're having feelings for Jasper, don't ignore them. You're going to drive yourself crazy if you do. It'll make you want him even more, and that can effect your relationship with Edward. Maybe spending a couple nights making out with Jasper will help your relationship with Edward. Because your relationship with Edward is not perfect if you're kissing another guy." I stared straight, letting her words sink in. We stood there for a few minutes, the sound of the television in the background.

"You ready to get back out there?" Jessica finally asked. I nodded, pushing myself off of the counter. We walked back into the living room and my eyes immediately zoned in on Jasper. He was sitting on the couch, his jacket off and draped over the back. His shirt was short sleeved, and the sleeves rode up on his arms to expose the muscles. I could feel the tightening in my stomach as my 'feelings' came to the surface. What Jessica had said to me in the kitchen was making sense to me, and I let myself ogle him freely. I needed him, just for a while, if I was going to be able to get over what we had done.

I walked over to the couch, sitting down beside him. As the cushions moved, Jasper's head turned away from Tyler and looked at me. His eyes were wide, staring at me as if he were waiting for me to do or say _something_. Jessica walked made herself busy by making popcorn and dividing it into two bowls. When she was done, Jasper and I were still staring at one another. Jess put in the movie, turning out the lights. She said something about everyone being quiet while Jason Statham took his shirt off, and I saw her look over at me and Jasper with a knowing look in her eyes.

The movie started, and Jessica and Tyler exchanged comments on the openings. But I held Jasper's gaze, making my decision. Finally, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his ear. I set my hand on his thigh lightly, and took a deep breath to build up the courage to say what I wanted to say.

"Three weeks. Just three weeks." Leaning back, I watched Jasper's face. His eyes widened in surprise for a solid five seconds, and then softened to recognition. Then there was a spark of pleasure, followed by what I assumed to be want. He nodded once, leaning in to press his lips to _my_ ear.

"Three weeks, Bella. For three weeks, you are _mine._"

* * *

**PLEASE REVIEW! I love reviews, and they make me all tingly and happy. Really, they do.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I suuuuuuck. But please don't hold that against me. I full blown just deserted this story like an ass, and for that I truly apologize. No worries though, because I am BACK! The next chapter of U.A. is here, and eager to be read and reviewed ;)**

**D/C: I do not own Twilight, nor do I own any of the characters portrayed in the book and/or movie. I do, however, own a new stationary bike. I'm trying to lose weight, and it's working!**

* * *

BPOV

Never in my entire life (as short as it had been up to this point) had I thought I would be capable of betraying someone. I was the person people shared their secrets with, the person who would feed a meter for a complete stranger so that they didn't get a ticket. I was _that _girl.

And yet, here I was, sitting on a couch with Jasper (keep in mind people, he is not the guy I usually called 'boyfriend' on a daily basis), telling him that I was his, and he was mine, for the next three weeks.

I was a dirty, dirty whore.

But… I was a dirty whore who had made a decision to be with someone for the next three weeks. I was a dirty whore who was currently sitting in the living room of Jessica Stanley, sending sexy stares at Jasper.

My phone vibrated in my pocket as Jason Statham made out with a woman on the TV screen. I pulled my phone out to see a text message from Jessica. I glanced at her in confusion, but she just tucked her own phone into her crotch area (for safe keeping?) and motioned for me to read on. I eyed Jasper for a second to make sure his attention was not directed towards me, and I looked down.

'_Are you going for a piece of that 'azz'?- Jess'_

I rolled my eyes and swallowed thickly, trying to choke back the laugh that threatened to bubble out. Moving my thumbs quickly, I texted back, tucking my phone away. Jessica, unfortunately, was not as skilled as I was in the art of hiding laughter, because not one second after she read that text a loud shriek filled the air. Tyler jumped, almost falling to the floor.

"What the hell!" Tyler was annoyed, but I could only hide my face as I chuckled along with her. Jasper shuffled next to me, and I could feel the cushions shift as his warm breath tickled my ear.

"Are you and Jessica not paying attention to the movie? What'd she text you?" I just shook my head, not willing to tell him anything. And then I felt fingers at my pocket, and I jumped. My hand flew away from my face and I watched in horror as Jasper tried to get at my phone.

"No!" I screamed, and slammed my hand over my pocket. I realized this was a bad thing to do as Tyler and Jasper exchanged a look and _pounced_. Jessica screamed at Tyler, and I felt panic. Tyler could _not_ see the texts.

"No, no!" I leaned back on the couch to get away from Jasper's hands only to have him lean over me and reach again. His hips lay on mine, and for one second I allowed my mind to run wild.

"I'm gonna find out, whether you give it willingly or not," Jasper whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes to find him inches away. I pushed past the urge to reach up and pull his face to mine, and instead whispered back.

"The texts are about you and me," I said urgently.

A second of understanding.

A second of panic.

And then Jasper was on his feet, pulling Tyler off of Jessica as he tried to get her cell phone.

"That's enough guys," Jasper laughed forcibly. "Let's rewind the movie a little." Jessica pushed against Tyler again and eyed me before pulling out her cell phone and pressing a few buttons. Hopefully deleting the evidence. I pulled mine out as well, and while Jasper rewound the movie, I deleted Jessica's text. I read the one I had sent one more time.

'_Hopefully, by the end of the 3 wks I'll have more than a 'piece' of that Jazz ass!'_

I shook my head and pressed delete. My phone beeped again, and I opened the text.

'_Deleted!'_

I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Jessica. In a way, I was glad she knew. The idea of keeping this completely quiet threatened to drive me as crazy as the thought of staying away from Jasper. Jessica could be my confidant, my go-to girl. After all, keeping everything held inside would make the dam burst, and my secret to flow free.

For some reason, when I woke up the following morning, I felt different. Jasper had followed me home the night before and we sat in my driveway to talk a little. We didn't touch- not even to hold hands. Needless to say, God should be proud, because Jasper looked mighty good sitting in the bed of his truck. We talked about what it would mean to us, being together for the duration of Edward and Alice's absence. We admitted to one another on several occasions that we were attracted to each other, but the main question in my mind was: Would we be able to walk away after those weeks were done? Could we taper down those feelings of attraction? Jasper claimed that it shouldn't be a problem. After all- he was in love with Alice and I was in love with Edward.

We laid out ground rules- under no circumstances were we to have sex. We wanted to loose our virginity to our actual significant others. But other than that… the next two and a half weeks were open territory. An experiment of sorts.

I sat in my bed that morning and looked back on the kiss Jasper and I had shared when I finally said good night to him. It was innocent. Full of promises and anticipation on what was to come.

I still felt the tingling sensation below the belt at the thought of his slow kiss, his tongue caressing mine…

"Bella?" I was pulled out of my vision rather quickly by my mother's voice, and I turned my flushed face to see her peeking into my room.

"Morning," I choked out. My mom smiled, the gesture not fully reaching her eyes.

"You better start getting ready," she whispered. "You don't want to be late for work." I sat up further, eyeing her curiously.

"Thanks… you okay? You seem upset." My mom just shook her head and plastered another smile on her lips.

"Everything's fine. Get a move on." And then she was gone. The main thing vibrating in my mind was the psychology class I took last year as an elective. I had asked if she was okay, and she unconsciously told me that some_thing_ was wrong. I sighed and forced myself to get ready for work. On my way out to my car, I sent a text to Edward, telling him I missed him and that I hoped he was having fun. I pushed away the guilt that threatened to bubble to the surface, but remembered what Jasper had said last.

"_Don't be letting that guilt take over. If you're feeling guilty, you're regretting. So, if you start to regret, you need to say something to me. We'll stop immediately."_

Yeah. I wasn't ready to stop. We'd just begun.

I sent a text to Jasper then; short and sweet (maybe a little pointless).

'_3'_

I slipped my phone into my pocket and climbed behind the wheel of my car. I made it to work in less time than normal, probably because I was signing along to the newest P!nk song. Me + music = speed demon.

I pulled into the parking lot and slammed on my brakes. There, in the parking spot that I had claimed as my own, was Jasper's truck. My heart skipped, and I pulled in next to it. He wasn't sitting in the cab, so I made my way inside almost hesitantly.

And there he was- sitting behind the service counter- in my chair, talking to Emmett.

"Bell!" Emmett's loud voice made me jump, and I forced back the glare that had threatened to surface just for him.

"Good morning," I said with a raised eyebrow. Jasper smiled at me and nodded at Emmett as the oaf made his way around the counter and patted the top of my head. I swayed under the force of the gesture, reaching my arms out to steady myself.

"Good to see ya Bell," he chuckled. I watched as he disappeared into the garage.

"I'm not a musical instrument," I mumbled. I sighed and turned to Jasper. "What are you up to? Why are you here?" Jasper just stood and walked around the counter just as Emmett had. He looked over to the glass between the office and Emmett, and when he seemed satisfied at what he saw, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

"Good morning _Bell_," he grinned. I glared at the mocking tone as he said the name and glanced to make sure my boss was still occupado.

"Drop the nickname before I go South Philly on your ass," I threatened. He laughed and took my bag off my shoulder. He stepped back around the counter and set it on the ground between two chairs. I stared at the new chair in surprise until Jasper noticed.

"I'm spending the day here," he explained. "That is, if it's okay with you." I looked shocked, I knew this. Didn't even have the chance to hide it.

"Yeah," I found myself saying, "it's fine with me. I just don't know if Em and Rose will allow it." Jasper gently pushed me into my chair as he sat down in the new one.

"Who do you think brought me the extra chair?" I laughed and glanced back out into the garage and saw that Rose was standing with Emmett under a lift. They were pointing to the rear of the car, deep in discussion about something. Neither of them seemed concerned that I had a friend with me at my desk.

"Seems you may be correct!" Jasper laughed at me and we settled back in our chairs.

"So you're going to stay here all day?" Jasper nodded. I rolled my eyes. "There's just enough stuff to do for one person, what makes you think there will be enough for two?" Jasper just shrugged and pointed to the ground. There was another bag that I hadn't noticed before.

"We're going to plan Alice and Edward's surprise birthday party."

"And what's in there? A piñata?" Jasper chuckled and shook his head.

"No. Laptop, my CDs, and some book my mom gave me about decorations. Apparently you and I do not carry the creativity genes needed to set up a party on the 'Cullen level', as my sweet mother put it. So we need some book she got at Barnes & Noble to show us how." First thought in my head? _Where the hell is there a Barnes & Noble_? But I kept the thought to myself and just shook my head. What the hell had we gotten ourselves into?

"You know," I smiled coyly, "it's not too late to back out. We haven't told anyone about it, we haven't made any real plans… we could _so_ pretend this idea hadn't formulated in our demented minds."

"Nope!" Jasper shook his head and his blonde curls moved almost gracefully around him. He really did need a haircut. "I told my mother about it, which is almost as bad as telling Alice herself. Because if we back out now, down the road my innocent mother will open her big mouth and say something. And then Alice will continue to berate us with questions like 'Why didn't you go through with the party?' It's actually easier to go through with planning the damn thing." I silently cursed myself. Why'd I have to come up with the damn idea anyway?

"I hate parties," I offered. Jasper sighed.

"Me too." I dismissed myself for a second and made my way out to the garage to talk to Rose and Emmett. They both greeted me with smiles as I asked about their new project with the guy in Port Angeles. Things looked promising, and apparently the guy was rolling in dough… and liked the fact that his mechanic was five foot ten and had big boobs.

"Are you guys sure you're okay with Jasper being here? I don't want to overstep my boundaries." My bottom lip found its way in between my teeth as I silently hoped that they didn't make him leave. I'd been thinking about Jasper since the night before and I wanted to try out the 'sneaky' portion of this new relationship. What better way to test it than to fool around at work.

"Abso-freakin-lutely," Rosalie responded, giving me a genuine smile. I laughed and nodded.

"I promise I'll finish my work, and I won't slack," I offered. "There's a shipment coming in this afternoon for tires, so I'll be doing billing and cleaning until then." I swallowed thickly as Rose and Emmett looked down at me from their position under the lift.

"Dude…" Emmett seemed in awe. "She's like… a _good_ employee." Rose rolled her eyes and smacked his arm.

"No shit," she deadpanned. I laughed and glanced behind me through the window at Jasper. He was staring out at us with a smirk on his face, and I wanted nothing more than to flick him between the eyes.

"Bella." I turned to Emmett and my eyebrows rose. "Don't be stressed out about having Jasper here. Hell, you're allowed to read when there's nothing to do, it's the same thing. As long as everything gets done, it's not a big deal. Relax. Have fun hangin' wit your boy." If my eyebrows could have disappeared into my hairline, they would have. _Hangin' wit your boy?_

"I'm going to pretend that you're not trying to be a teenager and get back to work," I laughed. Emmett looked thoroughly confused as he looked at Rose.

"What? I'm down with the lingo and the way kids are these days." I walked away to the sound of another smack. They were the coolest bosses _ever_.

The office itself was quiet when the door leading to the garage was closed, and I sighed as I sat back in my chair.

"I'm just going to be doing a few things while we talk, but other than that, we're good." Jasper smile and nodded. His eyes were sparkling and he watched as I booted up the computer and took out the binder I kept all the billing in. Every week I sent out statements to different people, basically telling them to pay up. Last thing they wanted to happen was Emmett to show up at their door and beat their dollars out of them.

I clicked a few buttons on the computer and brought up the internet. I liked to play the radio while I worked, and Pandora Radio was the best for me. I chose my station and smiled as a Daughtry song sounded through the speakers. Humming along, I turned back to the computer and froze. From the corner of my eye I could see that Jasper hadn't moved and was staring at me. Turning slowly, I felt my heart stutter. He wasn't just staring. He was studying.

"What's up?" I whispered. He leaned forward in his chair and stopped a foot from me.

"You are too beautiful for words." The words flowed so easily from his lips and I gasped softly. His tongue darted out and wet his lips, and I gripped the pen in my hand just a little bit harder.

"Jasper… I'm at work." The words were lost on my mouth as he closed the distance and pressed his lips to mine. My eyes closed out of instinct and I automatically parted them when I felt his tongue trace a pattern on my lips. We fought for dominance as his tongue glided along mine, and I moaned softly. Without warning, he pulled back. Without that warning, though, I lost my balance and fell forward a little.

"Oomph!" I moaned, my knee hitting the desk. I winced and set my forehead on the wood, massaging the sore spot.

"Shit! Are you okay?" Jasper's hands were on me, but I heard the door to the shop open and pushed him off. Looking up, I saw my dad walking in with a smile on his face. Shit. We had been so close.

"Dad! What… what are you doing here?" I ran my hand through my hair and hope to God that I didn't look as flustered as I felt.

"Hey sweetie," he looked at Jasper and nodded. "Jasper."

"Hi Chief Swan, pleasure to see you." I rolled my eyes, knowing he must be nervous because he never spoke to my dad that way. It was always 'man' and 'dude' and 'your highness'. You know, jokes.

"I'm here to get the oil changed on my cruiser. It's a little early, but Parks is going to be on vacation for two weeks, so I don't know when I'll get the chance."

"Yeah, sure. Let me just grab Emmett for you." I stood and sidestepped Jasper to walk into the garage. I opened the door and glanced back, noticing that my dad was watching Jasper with a stink eye. Had he seen us? Is that why Jasper pulled away?

"Bella?" I snapped to attention and looked out to see Em staring at me. It took a second, but I remembered why I had walked out there.

"Hey, my dad is here. Wants an oil change on his cruiser. Do you have time?" Emmett's grin was blinding and he tossed a wrench onto a tool chest before wiping his hands on his jeans.

"I always have time for Papa Swan!" I groaned, knowing he was going to embarrass me. He pushed past and I followed closely behind.

"Ah, Chief Swan! I thought I smelled bacon!" I froze. Only way to put it. I completely froze, all air leaving my lungs, and I saw that Jasper did the same. We were staring wide eyed in horror as we waited for my father to reach for his gun. Waited for him to put the barrel of his gun under Emmett's chin and threaten him.

Instead… laughter.

"Emmett, son, it's good to see you. I was hoping that you took that foot off the pedal." They exchanged a manly hug and started making small talk on the oil change.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. What the hell just happened?" I was baffled, waiting for an explanation of some sort. Em rolled his eyes and put his hand on my father's shoulder.

"Your dad and I go way back. Way, way back."

"Yep. All twelve traffic stops and all," my dad laughed.

"_Twelve_?" Jasper and I gasped. Emmett chuckled good heartedly and shrugged.

"And each and every one of them was a mistake, right Chief?" My dad just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"You keep telling yourself that." They continued to banter back and forth, and before I knew it, Emmett was under the police cruiser and finishing an oil change. Jasper and I sat in silence behind my desk, me reaching over every now and then to play with his fingers, and him reaching over to trace patterns on my jean covered thigh. When Charlie left the store with a wave, I sighed in relief.

"Is it bad that I wanted to jump on you, even the entire time your dad was here?" I blushed at Jasper's words and shook my head.

"Okay, Casanova. Get back to work."

I finished up the billing that I had to do, while Jasper worked on the guest list for the party. I watched him write name after name until I finally put my hand in front of the pen.

"We're just going to end up inviting the entire class, aren't we?" He sighed and nodded, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Probably. But I kind of wanted to do each invitation to have the persons name, ya know? That way it's personalized. I saw it in one of the books my mom showed me."

"Okay, Martha Stewart." I dodged a flying pen and smacked Jasper on the arm. We spent the next hour or so planning the party before I felt like I wanted to pull my hair out.

"I'm done. I'm done, I'm done, I'm done." I leaned back in my chair and felt the back dip, causing my feel to flail out. A small scream came out of my lips, but I could see Jasper's hand dart out and pull me to a stop.

"Okay, we'll stop for right now. No need to commit suicide." Ha. That's all I wanted to say. But right at that moment, Jasper was leaning down a little, his face just inches from my own. I could hear the noises from the impact gun coming from the garage, so I knew that _they _were busy. No customers, no bosses.

My face flushed and I reached up to pull Jasper down. He knew exactly what I wanted to do, and met me half way without any complaints. I moaned as warmth met warmth, and tongue met tongue. My hands found their way to his hair, and I noticed right away that his hair was even silkier than it normally was. Each curl felt like velvet, and I tightened my grip a little to emit a groan from him.

Jasper bit down on my lower lip and my breath hitched in my throat.

"You taste so good…" Jasper's words echoed in my head and I moaned loudly.

And then I heard the door leading to the garage open. Jasper let go of me faster than I thought possible, and my chair, which was still at an incline, went tumbling to the ground.

"Fuck!" I shouted. Jasper echoed my exclamation and reached for me. I lay sprawled across the floor, looking up at the ceiling in pain. Jasper's face appeared in my line of view, followed by Rosalie's.

"Bella! Are you okay?" I groaned, and accepted Rose's outstretched hand. Once I was on my own two feet, I glared at Jasper.

"Thanks, _friend_." The silence between the three of us was suddenly deafening, and I took deep breaths to calm myself down. I wasn't stupid. Rose had seen us. There was an angry look marring her beautiful face, and I could barely breathe. Would I get fired? Would she tell Edward? My _dad_?

"Rose, can I talk to you for a second?" My voice was wavering, weak and quiet.

"I was hoping you were going to say that," she snapped. I glanced at Jasper, silently telling him to stay the fuck there. His face was pale, and he shuffled in his spot. Rose and I headed out to the garage where Emmett was changing out tires on a large truck. The stereo system was blaring "Porn Star Dancing", and Emmett was giving what normally would be a comical performance. Now, it was a great cover-up for the conversation Rosalie and I were about to have.

"Care to explain what the hell I just walked in on?" I flinched and stepped back, not letting myself look behind me through the plexi-glass window at Jasper.

"Um… we, we were just… um…" She held up her hand and smirked.

"Never mind, don't try and weasel your way out of this," she said moderately loudly, trying to be heard over Emmett's out of tune singing. "I can't _believe _you would do that to Edward. I can't believe he would do that to _his_ girlfriend!" I didn't say anything, knowing that any words coming out of my mouth now would sound like gibberish. Rosalie's eyes were cool and calculating, staring me down as her mind surely cranked out different thoughts.

"Are you leaving Edward?" I breathed out steadily and shook my head.

"No, I'm not. Edward and I are still very much together." Rose's head tilted to the side in question.

"Then what are you and Jasper doing in there?" Closing my eyes, I thought about my options. Of course I didn't want too many people knowing about what Jasper and I were doing, but there was no way Rose would let me go without some kind of repercussion.

"We're spending the next three weeks together," I whispered loud enough for her to hear me. The radio went silent, and I opened my eyes. Rose was staring at me in shock and I glanced at Emmett to see him staring at us in question. When the next song began to play, I sent him a reassuring smile. He nodded and got back to bolting a tire back onto a car.

"You're… you're doing _what_?" Deep breath, Bella. Deep breath.

"The next three weeks. Well, a little less than. While our significant others are out of town, we're visiting the dark side and allowing ourselves to be together."

"And when they get back?" Rose shouted. I made a motion for her to quiet down and sighed.

"When they get back, we act like nothing ever happened. We go back to the way things were, and never bring it up again." My voice came out strong and steady, surprising me.

"Why?" Huh?

"What do you mean, _why_?" Rosalie lightly grabbed my arm and brought me closer.

"Why are you guys doing this? The risks involved… Bella, you're going to get hurt." I shook my head and smiled.

"No, I'm not. We're not. We talked about it, we discussed it, and we know the limitations and the rules. We find each other very attractive, and want to act on it while we can. We don't plan on leaving Edward and Alice, and when they get back it'll be fine. We just want to live a little before it's too late." I took the chance and glanced to my left and saw Jasper practically pressed against the plexi glass as he watched us. Rosalie watched me and then looked over at Jasper.

"Kids, let me tell you." I breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward, catching her eye.

"You're not going to say anything, are you?" Rose searched my face and shook her head after a moment.

"No, I won't say anything. But you can't be doing things like this in my shop. Keep it rated G." I couldn't help myself- I hugged her, grinning from ear to ear.

"Thank you, so much."

"Uh uh, don't make me a part of this," Rose reprimanded. "Yes I know, but if it all goes wrong, don't come crying back to me. I don't want anyone to get hurt, but I'm not your mother. I'm not going to dictate what you do with your life. Besides, I was young once. About two percent of me understands." I nodded and retreated, making my way back into the office. Jasper was practically on top of me once I was through the door.

"She's going to tell someone isn't she? Is she going to fire you? I'm so sorry, Bella!" I placed my hand over his mouth and shook my head.

"No, she's not going to say anything, and I'm not fired." Jasper visibly relaxed, and I watched his shoulders dip in relief. "We just can't be doing anything like this in here again, ya know?" He nodded and cast a smile towards the garage, and I knew Rosalie was watching.

"Oh, your phone was ringing, and beeping," Jasper mentioned. I walked around the desk and picked my phone up, seeing that I had three missed calls from Edward, as well as a text asking if I was at work.

"It's Edward, I better call him back." I pressed send and brought the phone to my ear as I watched Jasper. Only then did I realize how uncomfortable this phone call was going to be with me standing two feet from the guy I had been making out with only minutes before.

Like I said: dirty, dirty whore.

"Bella?" Edward's voice was laced with worry, and I ran my hand through my hair.

"Hey, sorry I didn't answer before. I was in a meeting with Rose." I could hear noise in Edward's background, as well as Alice's high pitched laugh. "You guys sound like you're having fun."

"Yeah, we are," Edward said. I could hear the hint of a smile in his voice. "How's work going?" I glanced at Jasper again before leaning on my desk.

"Slow, but Jasper is here to hang, so it's okay."

"Excuse me?" I flinched at the anger I heard in Edward's voice, and thought back to his opposition to me spending so much time with Jasper. I just didn't understand. It was their idea for us to get close while they were gone in the first place.

"Don't start with me, Edward. Not right now. Jasper is keeping me company, which I appreciate, because my job can be very boring at times. If you don't like it, you can hang up right this second." I was proud of myself for standing up to him. Especially about this. But the smirk on my face dropped when I heard the distinct sound of a disconnected phone call.

"Shit," I whispered, pulling the phone away from my ear.

"What was that about?" I looked up at Jasper and shrugged.

"I don't know. Edward and Alice were so gung-ho about you and I spending time together, but when we actually start to, Edward has a problem with it. He can't seem to wrap his mind around his own fucking idea or something." Jasper sat on the desk next to me and reached for my phone. He placed it on the surface behind us and grasped my hand.

"Like I said before, if you doubt this for a second, we can stop. We don't have to spend as much time together, and I'm sure that will make Edward happy. Although, I'm not sure what his problem is. It's not like he knows what is going on or anything." He laughed and I pulled my hand away to smack him.

"Hardy-har-har. You're so funny." I sighed and shook my head. "No, I don't doubt this. Edward will get over it, and until he comes back from his little vacation, he'll stay the same I'm sure. Have you talked to Alice?" Jasper nodded.

"Yeah we talk all the time. She's thrilled that you and I are becoming closer. I think Edward's just being insecure or something. I've never seen him like this, and he's my best friend."

Jasper and I chatted for a bit longer, and before I knew it, the day had flown by.

"It's five o'clock somewhere!" Emmett shouted while closing up the garage. I snickered, throwing my stuff into my bag.

"Yeah, _here_." He just stuck his tongue out at me and shut the lights off.

"I'm coming to your house for dinner," Jasper said. I cocked an eyebrow at him and laughed.

"Really now? I don't remember inviting you." Jasper opened his eyes wide and stuck out his lower lip, pulling off the perfect pouty face. I rolled my eyes and left the shop, listening as his footsteps followed.

"Whatever, J." We bid farewell to Rose and Emmett, and Jasper and I got into our respective vehicles, making our way back to my house. I noticed that my mother's car was not there, but my dad's cruiser was.

"Odd," I muttered. I winked at Jasper as we made our way in, dodging his hand as he reached for my behind.

"Dad!" I called, as I entered the house. I turned into the kitchen and right into a wall. "Oomph!" Hands reached out and steadied me, and I looked up to my father's face.

"You bellowed?" he smiled. I noticed though, that his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Jasper invited himself for dinner, so I figure I'd make up some steaks and potatoes. Where's mom?" There. His eyes. Something was wrong.

"Um, your mom is out with her friends," he pointed to a piece of paper on the table and I saw that my mother had left a note saying just that- she was out with friends.

"Okay," I muttered. I plastered a smile on my face and directed it at my dad. "Well, I can make dinner for us three, how does that sound?" All negative looks in my dad's eyes disappeared and he smiled.

"Steak sounds great, Bells. After dinner I have to get a couple hours of sleep in though. I have to cover Barron, he's sick or something."

"Okay, well until then, get your butt into the living room and relax. J and I will take care of dinner." My dad nodded and glanced at Jasper with a stink eye.

"You better wash your hands, son, before you touch my food." I laughed loudly as Jasper chuckled.

"Yes, your highness, absolutely." Jasper and I got to work on peeling potatoes as the steaks marinated. We chatted about the birthday party, making plans for invitations to be sent out that week.

"I want to spend the night tonight," Jasper whispered out of nowhere. I dropped the potato I was holding, looking around to see if my dad was within ear shot.

"Okay," I responded, "what are you going to tell your parents?" He smiled, chopping a potato into cubes and throwing the pieces into the pot of boiling water.

"The truth." Huh. What a concept.

"Okay," I repeated. "Should I be telling my parents the truth as well?" He shrugged, not stopping in his peeling.

"If you want. But there's no point in lying I suppose." It's not like he hadn't spent the night before, vice versa. Over the past few days that's all we'd done, spend the night with each other. Our parents probably thought we just needed the company, with the Cullen's gone.

"That works for me," I smiled. Dinner was ready within forty minutes, and when we sat down to eat I nudged my dad with my elbow.

"Hey, is it okay if Jasper spends the night tonight? We're planning a surprise party for Edward and Alice, and need to work on the invitations." My dad paused, a piece of steak hanging from his fork just inches away from his mouth. His eyes darted between me and Jasper, but I didn't dare look at J in case we looked suspicious. My dad's mustache twitched, and he eventually stuck that piece into his mouth. He nodded, adding mashed potatoes into the mix.

"Yeah it's fine. But if he sleeps in your room, he sleeps on the floor. Or downstairs. Whatever." Mental fist pump.

"Thanks dad," I said calmly. Dinner continued with light conversation, and before I knew it, my father was lying down on the couch, eyes closed. Jasper and I cleaned the kitchen, sending each other sly looks at what we were planning to do that night. My stomach was alive with butterflies, and I wondered how long it was going to be until my mother got home.

"How obvious are we?" Jasper laughed. I laughed with him, and before I could say anything, I could hear snoring coming from the living room.

"And then there were two," I whispered, pushing Jasper against the counter with ease. I pressed into him and sighed. He felt so good against me, so smooth and muscular under my fingers.

"We can't do this here," Jasper muttered into my ear. His hands slid behind me and cupped my behind, pressing me further against his chest. He was right, now was not the time. Not with my gun yielding father ten feet away.

"Tonight," I said. "When my dad's gone. Tonight." Jasper nodded, kissing me lightly on my temple. I sighed and pushed away from temptation. Even those few hours were going to be hard.

* * *

***applause* You see where this is leading... which means there's going to be frisky motions in the next chapter. As for updating schedule... I have another story up right now, called Heart of Evil - a Bella/Edward Mystery Suspense story, and I update this story on Mondays and Fridays. So, for UA I'm thinking Sunday's and Wednesday's? It seems good, so if that works out then yay!**

**Remember, Review. I don't deserve it because I sucked with updating, but I beg regardless. **


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